کمیته های حسابرسی و کیفیت گزارشگری مالی: ماده 8 اتحادیه اروپا در مورد قوانین شرکت Audit committees and financial reporting quality: The 8th EU Company Law Directive perspective

1. Introduction An audit committee is an operating committee of a company’s board of directors in charge of overseeing financial reporting and disclosure (Choi et al., 2014). Idealistically, the aim of financial reporting is to present reliable information about the company’s financial position and performance that is useful for a wide range of users when making economic decisions (Barth et al., 2008). However, in reality financial reports are often distorted or even fraudulent (Blanco et al., 2014; Cho et al., 2015), thus impairing the ability of interested constituents to make rational decisions. Audit committee authorities typically involve the oversight of financial reporting, monitoring of accounting policies, oversight of external auditors, regulatory compliance, risk management, and special investigations in cases of suspect or problematic accounting practices (Dezoort et al., 2002). Despite widespread conjectures that the audit committee’s function improves financial reporting quality, these are not unequivocally supported by empirical evidence. For example, Alves (2013) and Stewart and Munro (2007) found that the presence of an audit committee is not associated with the quality of financial reporting. The equivocal evidence is likely attributable to the fact that audit committees are highly diverse in terms of their size, independence, monitoring effectiveness, competencies, and other relevant quality features (Choi et al., 2014; Gendron and Bédard, 2006). In effect, the existence of an audit committee within a company may be just a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for enhancing financial reporting quality. The weaknesses of audit committees in particular and corporate governance systems in general were highlighted by several financial scandals (e.g. Enron, Parmalat) at the turn of the millennium (Bajra and Cadez, 2017; Črnigoj and Verbič, 2014; Kutan, 2010). These scandals gave rise to significant changes in regulatory policies on both sides of the Atlantic. In the European Union (EU), the establishment of an audit committee became mandatory with the passing of the 8th Company Law Directive (Directive 2006/43/ EC, from here on the 8th CLD). The directive also enhanced the audit committee’s responsibilities with respect to many governance issues. In particular, it increased demands in terms of the monitoring effectiveness and competencies of audit committees (Abernathy et al., 2013; Beasley et al., 2009; Bédard and Gendron, 2010; Cohen et al., 2014; Dezoort et al., 2002).