Title: The governance role of the financial information: empirical evidence in the Tunisian context

Authors: Nesrine Klai; Abdelwahed Omri

Addresses: High Institute of Management, University of Tunis, 14, Rue Aziz Tej, Mourouj I, Ben Arous, 2074, Tunisia. ' High Institute of Management, University of Tunis, 41, Avenue de la Liberté, Cité Bouchoucha, 2000, Bardo, Tunisia

Abstract: This paper examines the sensitivity of the governance mechanisms to the financial information quality in an emerging context which is the Tunisian market. It focuses mainly on the characteristics of the board of directors and the ownership structure in order to determine the principal governance mechanisms in the Tunisian firms. Using a multivariate analysis of variance for a sample of 22 firms listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange, we find that the accounting quality affects the implementation of the governance mechanisms in the Tunisian firms. Particularly, the irrelevance of the financial reporting increases the control by the foreigners, the families and the blockholders and reduces the presence of the State and the financial institutions in the Tunisian firms. Our findings confirm the governance role of the accounting information in the Tunisian market.

Keywords: corporate governance; board of directors; ownership structure; director identity; shareholder identity; financial information quality; accounting governance role; principal component analysis; PCA; multivariate ANOVA; analysis of variance; Tunisia; MANOVA; financial reporting.

DOI: 10.1504/AAJFA.2011.043866

Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting, 2011 Vol.2 No.4, pp.283 - 298

Published online: 18 Mar 2013 *

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