Audit committee role: formal rituals or effective oversight process?

Oussii, Ahmed Atef; Klibi, Mohamed Faker; Ouertani, Insaf

doi:10.1108/maj-11-2017-1708

Cited by 20 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…First, although a substantial amount of recent audit committee research has investigated the association between audit committee financial expertise and the quality of financial reporting by firms (Gebrayel et al, 2018;Abad and Bravo, 2018;Endrawes et al, 2018;Oussii and Boulila Taktak, 2018;Sultana et al, 2015;Abernathy et al, 2014), findings remain inconclusive. Second, in the Tunisian setting, the audit committee (AC) oversight role of the financial reporting process could be perceived as ceremonial or symbolic and not necessarily effective (Oussii et al, 2019). Otherwise, in our knowledge, none of the past studies has examined the association between audit committee expertise and the de facto use of IAS/IFRS in French-speaking African countries where IFRS have not been adopted by local standards setters (Degos et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of audit committee financial expertise on de facto use of IFRS: does external auditor’s size matter?

Oussii

Klibi

2020

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Purpose De facto use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is a particular form of voluntary compliance with International Accounting Standards (IAS). It is practiced when an enterprise uses a number (and not all) of international standards as a complement to overcome the unachieved nature of local generally accepted accounting principles. The purpose of this paper is to analyze, at first, whether the financial expertise of Tunisian audit committee’s members is associated with de facto use of IFRS. Second, it explores to what extent and in what direction this association evolves when the factor auditor’s size is introduced as a moderator variable. Design/methodology/approach Data spanning a seven-year period (2012–2018) was hand-collected for a sample of 497 firm-year observations. Further, regression analysis was used to test the study’s hypothesis. Findings Findings show that the proportion of financial experts who sit on the audit committee is positively associated with the de facto use of IFRS. Besides, the association between audit committee members’ financial expertise and the voluntary use of IFRS is more pronounced when the company is audited by at least one BIG 4 audit firm. Practical implications The paper’s findings have implications for regulatory bodies and standards setters who are concerned with the functioning of the audit committee, especially when it comes to enhancing the quality of the financial statements. The results also shed light on the role of financial experts on the audit committee and Big 4 auditors to enforce the de facto use of IFRS. Originality/value The findings of this study contain an important message for the drift toward national de jure convergence with IAS.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of audit committee financial expertise on de facto use of IFRS: does external auditor’s size matter?

Oussii

Klibi

2020

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“…With regard to internal audit in the Tunisian context, internal auditors do not operate as an effective oversight mechanism and their roles can be considered as a formal ritual (Oussii et al, 2019). Form over substance is a prevailing principle in auditing and accounting practices in this setting (Khlif et al, 2020).…”

Section: Medar 301mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This implies that internal auditors may face several difficulties when conducting their missions within public sector in Tunisia and they are still operating under emancipating endeavor. Finally, the audit committee, which represents a comfort mechanism for internal auditors, does not operate as an effective oversight mechanism in the Tunisian setting, and its role can be considered one of formal ritual (Oussii et al, 2019). These unique characteristics of the Tunisian setting, compared to the Canadian or Malaysian contexts, create a useful testing ground to improve our understanding of how internal auditors perceive their roles in a setting characterized by weak auditing and institutional infrastructure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internal auditors’ perceptions of their role as assurance providers: a qualitative study in the Tunisian public sector

Khelil

Khlif

2021

MEDAR

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Purpose The objective of this paper is to provide insights into internal auditors’ perceptions and experiences regarding their role as assurance providers in the Tunisian public sector through the detection, correction and reporting of internal control weaknesses and wrongdoings. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research is conducted based on organizational role theory and using semi-structured interviews with 13 chief audit executives across 13 Tunisian public-sector organizations. A thematic analysis of the responses of interviews is then performed. Findings The content analysis of internal auditors’ responses shows that ambiguity surrounds the role of Tunisian internal auditors within the public sector because they must serve multiple customers (e.g. informal groups in Tunisian society, managers and audit committees) with conflicting expectations. In addition, the authors find that they adopt a strategy of trade-off between commercial and professional values, tending to prioritize top managers’ interests at the expense of other stakeholders. Responses provided by interviewees reveal that the absence of legal protection of internal auditors is one major obstacle explaining their failure to perform their role as assurance providers. Originality/value This study provides preliminary evidence of the challenges faced by internal auditors working in public-sector organizations in an emerging African setting. The findings of this study also emphasize the need to rethink the concept of independence of the internal auditing function within the Tunisian public sector given the apparent inability of internal auditors to alter their commercial focus. Furthermore, the results may increase the awareness of professional institutions about the necessity of enacting rules reinforcing internal auditors’ protection that may strengthen the role played by internal auditors within public-sector organizations.

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“…The internal audit has got increasing attention as an important component of government financial management and a vital tool for improving the performance of the government sector. There are many different internal audit models, and it may be necessary to consider different audit traditions, country capacities while introducing the measures to improve internal audit, especially in the transition economies and the developing countries (Oussii, Klibi, & Ouertani, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern trends of Kazakhstan’s internal state audit: the US and UK experience

Igibayeva

Kazhmuкhametova

Beisenova

et al. 2020

Problems and Perspectives in Management

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The quality improvement of state audit system is vital and relevant for all post-Soviet republics and Kazakhstan particularly. On the whole, it is grounded on the old notions, and is not suitable for the contemporary economic situation and numerous private enterprises’ growth. The article aims to highlight the advantages of the audit systems in the USA and the UK for the contemporary state of the audit system in the Republic of Kazakhstan. In order to achieve the stated purpose theoretical bases, statistical data, legislative and regulatory official documents were analyzed. The analysis shows that the most perspective approaches to the internal audit system development are risk management and budget planning. The main problematic areas are the legal support, staff of auditing departments and services, the quality of revisions and competence of state auditors. It is substantiated that training and education for the auditors are highly demanded. The internal annual audit reports can be used as the effective instrument of the governmental control as well as the marker of the most undeveloped spheres.

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Audit committee role: formal rituals or effective oversight process?

Cited by 20 publications

References 58 publications

The impact of audit committee financial expertise on de facto use of IFRS: does external auditor’s size matter?

The impact of audit committee financial expertise on de facto use of IFRS: does external auditor’s size matter?

Internal auditors’ perceptions of their role as assurance providers: a qualitative study in the Tunisian public sector

Modern trends of Kazakhstan’s internal state audit: the US and UK experience

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