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PurposeThis study aims to investigate the monitoring role of ownership structure (OWS) on real earnings management (REM) practices; previous studies primarily examined the effect of OWS on accrual-based earnings management.Design/methodology/approachThe sample of this study is 490 companies listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange during the period 2013–2016 (1,960 company-year observations). The regression of a feasible generalized least square was used for data analysis. The authors use three regression models ordinary least squares, panel-corrected standard errors and Driscoll–Kraay standard errors to corroborate the findings and also examine alternative REM measures.FindingsAnalysis of the data shows that family, foreign and institutional ownership has a positive link with the quality of financial reporting and, to a large extent, is capable of alleviating REM. The findings also indicate that some form of OWS significantly affects REM, corroborating existing theories on corporate governance (CG) and the perspectives of practitioners.Practical implicationsThe evidence concerns the significant role played by the OWS in reducing REM activities. The findings are useful in support of regulatory activities, particularly in the design of policies to regulate the OWS. The results may also provide useful insights to inform other policymakers, investors, shareholders and researchers about the active role of family, foreign and institutional investors in monitoring Malaysia's public listed companies (PLCs) to strengthen CG practices. This also leads to less REM and enhances the quality of financial reporting.Originality/valueTo the authors' knowledge, this work is pioneering research from a developing country, specifically from Malaysia, to investigate the manner in which all possible OWSs influence REM. More importantly, the study recommends that regulators and researchers do not envisage OWS as a holistic phenomenon.

Motivated mainly by streams of research that suggest industry expertise of audit committee (AC) is the best-qualification for directors, and that evidence on the value of this expertise is limited. This study examines whether AC financial expertise is associated with audit report timeliness and mainly explores the effect of AC industry expertise on audit report timeliness by supporting AC financial expertise. The study used a sample from a unique setting and pooled regression analysis, and the study reveals that AC financial expertise is not associated with reducing audit report delay. More significantly, it documents that a reduction delay in audit reporting, improving audit timeliness, is more apparent when the members' industry expertise level enhances AC's financial expertise members. This study also records that AC members with financial expertise and industry expertise are strongly associated with decreasing the audit report delay. Financial expertise is associated with a shorter audit report delay in the subgroup of industry expertise. Overall, this

<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">The auditor-auditee relationship has become a concern due to its possible effect on auditor’s independence. One common form of relationship is the director-auditor link generated by interlocking directorates. Therefore the objective of this study is to examine the effect of director-auditor link on audit opinion. Analysis is conducted by using Probit regression on a sample of 759 companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia for the year 2007. The results show that the issuance of audit opinion is influenced by the director-auditor link, whereby it is found that auditors have higher possibility to issue unqualified audit opinion to interlink companies (interlocking companies sharing a common auditor). The findings are consistent with the attachment theory which suggests that attachments create mutual dependence and mutual trusts between the parties involved.</span></p>

This study examined the relationship between audit delay after IFRS adoption and the role of shareholders in the audit committee as well as testing the difference of pre-and post IFRS adoption periods. A sample of 101 firms with 505 firm-year observations over five year period for firms listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange was employed for the study, utilizing data from the annual report and accounts of the sample firms. Generalized Methods of Moment (GMM) estimation was used to check the effects of unobserved heterogeneity in audit delay model, while the test of difference in R 2 value for pre-and post-adoption periods was determined using Cramer's Z-statistics. Findings indicate that audit report lag is faster with shareholders in the audit committee. The study proved that brand named auditors such ISSN 2162-3082 2018 http://ijafr.macrothink.org 326 as Big4 can significantly perform faster audit task than non-Big4 firms in IFRS regime. The importance of the study's findings demonstrates statistical inference on value relevance increase based on the unique IFRS adoption in Nigeria. Thus, regulators should consider increasing the tenure of shareholders in the audit committee to enable them to become more familiar with the corporate reporting under IFRS regime. International Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting

Abstract-External auditing is essential due to the belief that it can enhance users' reliability of the financial reports. However, negative perception on auditor's independence decreases investors' reliability on the reports. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of audit and non-audit fees on earnings response coefficient. Negative perception on auditor's independence concerning the high amount of fees decreases the investors' reliability on audited earnings and thus, results in lower ERCs. Based on 270 listed companies on the Bursa Malaysia in 2011, the OLS regression result shows that investors place lower reliability on earnings audited by highly paid auditors. Investors view high fees as a form of compensation to the auditors. The finding is consistent with earlier perceived studies which had found negative perceptions on high fees.Index Terms-Audit fees, non-audit fees, earnings response coefficient, auditor independence.

Diversity of board members has become a recent topic by which it has been linked to board’s effectiveness. It can be postulated that directors from a different generation will exhibit different values, knowledge and behavior that can influence the decisions and actions of a firm. However, earlier studies have produced mixed findings on the effect of director's age and firm performance. This study proposes that in order to examine the influence of age diversity, researchers must capture the difference in the age cohort of directors. Different generations carry its own common and unique characteristics. Consistent with the diversity concept, age diversity should be examined based on the inclusion of different generations to the board, and not just the average number of directors’ age as practiced in earlier studies.

Reliability of quarterly accounts has been a concern by many. The occurrence of deviation between earnings reported in audited annual accounts and cumulative quarterly accounts has been posited as a signal of low reliability in quarterly earnings. This study examines whether the earnings deviation is more related to misstatements rather than the occurrence of events after reporting period. Data is based on Bursa Malaysia listed companies consisting of 731 observations for the period between 2000 until 2012. It is found that only a total of 14 percent of sample had declared events after reporting period, while 95 percent have declared misstatements as reasons for earnings deviation. At the same time, the mean magnitude of earnings deviation related to misstatements is RM15 million, while only less than RM4 million is related to events after reporting period. Results of the t-test show that the magnitude of earnings deviation related to misstatements is significantly higher than those related to events after reporting period. The results suggest that earnings deviation is more related to low quality of quarterly earnings, instead of mandatory accounting adjustments. Finding suggests the need for the company and regulators to take steps to resolve the occurrence of earnings deviation. Future studies should also explore the individual items involved in the earnings deviation.