International Journal of Corporate Governance (4 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• Audit committee characteristics and accounting conservatism: does the power of people matter?  
  by Dina El Mahdy, Ling Yang, Asmaa Abdelrahman, Rasha Elbolok 
  Abstract: This study employs the Developmental Democracy Theory to predict that the 2011 Egyptian Revolution created a demand for a better governance structure in the form of efficient audit committees, which led to increased conservative financial reporting. Using a sample of 605 firm-year observations from the 100 most active companies listed on the Egyptian stock market between 2009 and 2019, the study examines the effect of five audit committee characteristics on accounting conservatism post-Egyptian Revolution. The empirical results show that audit committee financial expertise, diligence, and interlock are positively associated with accounting conservatism, while audit committee size is negatively associated. Moreover, the 2011 Egyptian Revolution amplified the influence of audit committee characteristics on the timeliness of economic loss recognition, further promoting conservative financial reporting. This study is among the first to explore the moderating effect of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution on the relationship between audit committee characteristics and accounting conservatism.
  Keywords: corporate governance; audit committee characteristics; accounting conservatism; The Egyptian Revolution.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJCG.2025.10069417
   
  
• Board characteristics and corporate financial distress: the Indian evidence  
  by Ibrahim Hussain, Tutun Mukherjee 
  Abstract: This study aims to examine how board characteristics board size, female directors, board independence, CEO duality, foreign directors, and frequency of board meetings affect the likelihood of firms falling into financial distress in India. A matched-pairs research design is being utilised with 374 observations, half of which are classified as distressed and the other half as non-distressed. Data spanning ten years, from 2013 to 2022, has been collected for the sample firms. Using conditional (fixed-effect) logistic regression technique, the results indicate that board size hold positive relationship with the firms likelihood of falling into financial distress, while board independence is found to be negatively associated. However, the results confirm that female directors, foreign directors, CEO duality and board meetings do not have a significant impact on the likelihood of financial distress in the Indian context. These findings bear important practical implications in the Indian context, particularly concerning the formulation of a robust code of corporate governance aimed at mitigating corporate failures.
  Keywords: corporate governance; board characteristics; financial distress likelihood; matched-pair approach; conditional (fixed-effect) logistic regression; India.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJCG.2025.10069464
   
  
• Does corporate governance curb earnings management? A moderated meta-analysis  
  by Sangita Chaudhary, Mohit Verma 
  Abstract: The current study explores the dynamics of earnings management (EM) and corporate governance by addressing the inconsistencies in the current literature concerning this association. Findings from 108 studies were used for meta-analysis to explore the effect of corporate governance on EM. Additionally, moderation analysis was conducted to investigate the effect of country’s economic status, timeframe, models employed to capture EM and country’s culture in the stated context. Through a synthesis of empirical studies, we discuss the discrepancy pertaining to the effect of CEO duality; executive compensation; board independence; board size; women on board; audit committee independence; institutional, family and foreign holdings in the firm equity on EM. We observed that EM and corporate governance are associated; and the country’s economic status, models employed to capture EM and country’s culture moderate this relationship. Current work also overcomes the gaps in previous meta-analysis studies by covering the widened time frame, additional corporate governance variables and contextual moderators. Evidence backed by standardising empirical results helps policymakers and stakeholders who are engaged in monitoring activities of the firm.
  Keywords: board characteristics; corporate governance; earnings management; meta-analysis; ownership structure.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJCG.2025.10069898
   
  
• Political connections and earnings management: the role of governance in the case of Canadian largest listed companies  
  by Saidatou Dicko, Charlotte Beauchamp, Michel Sayumwe, Karima Naciri 
  Abstract: This study examines the relationship between firms’ political connections, earnings management practices, and governance. We then have investigated Canadian non-financial S&P/TSX companies, over a ten-year period (2009-2018), by using quantitative analyses methods. The results are very surprising and show that: 1) the studied firms practice significantly less real earnings management (REM) than discretionary accruals (DAC) earnings management; 2) being politically connected does not really push companies to practice more earnings; in fact, it is an opposite situation that has been observed when the DAC is used; 3) finally and most surprising, having a good-quality governance when the firms are politically connected push them to practice more earnings management (still when the DAC is used). Thus, the politically connected firms seem to practice less earnings management through DAC, but when they have higher-quality governance, they seem to care less about the quality of financial information and do more earnings management.
  Keywords: political connections; earnings management; real earnings management; REM; discretionary accruals; DAC; Canadian firms; governance.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJCG.2025.10069899