Title: The impact of audit committee existence and characteristics on auditor auditee negotiation outcomes: an empirical study in the Tunisian context

Authors: Manel Hadriche Sahnoun

Addresses: University of Tunis, 60 Rue Erriadh Dar Fadhal Soukra Ariana 2036 Tunisie, Tunisia

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between auditor auditee negotiation outcome and the existence and characteristics of the audit committee in Tunisian context. The multivariate tests were led on a sample of 142 Tunisian firms for the period 2006-2007. The results of our study reveal that audit committee existence has a significant influence on auditor auditee negotiation outcome. Meanwhile, audit committee independence, audit committee expertise and the number of meetings were not relevant in explaining auditor auditee negotiation outcomes. Within the control variable, the size of the audit firm is positively significant indicating that Big 4 audit firms are more likely to agree with their auditees than smaller audit firms. This study has important implications on the auditing profession and regulators in Tunisia. So, it reinforces the role of audit committee as corporate governance mechanisms in reducing auditor auditee conflict and in improving financial information quality.

Keywords: auditor-auditee negotiation; audit committees; corporate governance; Tunisia; audit committee effectiveness; audit committee existence; auditing; financial information quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEA.2011.038965

International Journal of Economics and Accounting, 2011 Vol.2 No.1, pp.100 - 115

Published online: 21 Oct 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article