Does Corporate Governance Constrain Earnings Management in an Unstable Economic and Political Environment?

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Asian Economic and Financial Review

Publication Date

1-1-2022

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of corporate governance structures on earnings management behavior in a weakly governed and politically unstable environment. A panel of data from 35 non-bank companies listed on the Palestine Exchange between 2012 and 2019 was employed. A fixed effects regression model was used to examine the impact of certain board characteristics (board size, board meetings, and audit committee formation) and ownership structures (institutional ownership, foreign ownership, and ownership concentration) on earnings management in the volatile and risky political and economic environment of Palestine. The findings indicate that corporate governance and ownership systems in Palestine appear to be ineffective in constraining earnings management practices. None of the board attributes appear to constrain earnings management practices. However, there is weak evidence to show that ownership concentration has some effect in curbing earnings manipulation. The findings of this study are expected to increase awareness among Palestinian regulators, investors, and other policymakers regarding the role of boards of directors and institutional and foreign shareholders in monitoring Palestinian listed companies to enhance corporate governance and the quality of financial reporting.

ISSN

2305-2147

Publisher

Asian Economic and Social Society

Volume

12

Issue

12

First Page

1074

Last Page

1093

Disciplines

Business

Keywords

Board characteristics, Corporate governance, Discretionary accruals, Earnings management, Ownership structure, Palestine, Palestine exchange

Scopus ID

85143849572

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series

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