The Impact of Board Activity on The Audit Committee’s Effectiveness Score: Empirical Evidence from Saudi Arabia

Khaled Salmen ALJAAIDI,Omer Ali BAGAIS,Anass Hamad Elneel ADOW 한국유통과학회 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.1

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of board of directors’ activity on the audit committee’s effectiveness score among manufactured listed companies on Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) for the period 2015-2017. The final sample of this study consists of 195 firm-year observations that represent manufactured companies listed on Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) for the years 2015-2017. The data of this study in terms of board of directors’ meetings, audit committee size and meetings, firm leverage, firm performance, and firm age were hand-collected from the annual reports of the considered companies. The Pooled OLS regression’s result indicate that audit committee’s effectiveness score is influenced by the board of directors’ activity. This result gives support to the agency theory prediction. This result is also consistent with the complementary function of corporate governance mechanisms in which board of directors’ activity complements the function of audit committee’s effectiveness score. The result of this study should be useful for manufacturing companies, Saudi Stock Exchange, auditors, and regulators which relates to the association between board of directors’ activity and audit committee’s effectiveness score. This study provides a new empirical evidence on the impact of board activity on the audit committee’s effectiveness score in an interesting context which is Saudi Arabia.

The Relationship between Firm-Specific Characteristics and Board of Directors’ Diligence in Saudi Arabia

Khaled Salmen ALJAAIDI,Omer Ali BAGAIS,Anass Hamad Elneel ADOW 한국유통과학회 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.1

This study investigates the relationships of energy firm-level characteristics, namely; firm size, firm leverage, and firm performance with board diligence among companies listed in Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) for the periods ranging from 2012 to 2019. The final sample of this study consists of 32 firm-year observations. A quantitative approach was adopted to test 3 specific hypotheses developed for the board diligence model. Using the Pooled OLS regression, this study finds that firm size and firm performance are negatively associated with board diligence. The results of this study indicate an insignificant association of firm leverage with board diligence. Besides, firm performance is related negatively to board diligence. This indicates that the board of companies with poor performance increases the number of its meetings because of the increased pressure on the board to improve its oversight operations and address the severe performance challenges. The increased number of board meetings observe the daily management of the company, increase the chances for discussions concerning the performance challenges, and come up with solutions faster. The directors are also likely to encounter heightened pressure to appear more engaged during a company’s financial distress since lenders require a meeting of the board or with the board.

Factors Influencing Usage of University Mobile Application Among University Students

ALJAAIDI, Khaled Salmen,BAGAIS, Omer Ali,SHARMA, Raj Bahadur Korea Distribution Science Association 2020 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.7 No.10

This study investigates the factors influencing the usage of PSAU Mobile Application by the students at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University (PSAU). This study used Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a framework to predict the factors influencing 67 students' usage of PSAU M-Application. The results of this study were consistent with the TAM framework in predicting the actual usage of the PSAU mobile application for academic activities. The results indicated a significantly positive association of the perceived ease-to-use with perceived usefulness, significantly positive associations of the perceived ease-to-use and the perceived usefulness with the attitude toward the usage of the PSAU's mobile application, a significantly positive association of the perceived usefulness with the behavioral intention toward the usage of the PSAU's mobile application, a significantly positive association of the students' attitude toward the usage of the PSAU's mobile application with the behavioral intention of using the application, and a significantly positive association of the behavioral intention with the actual usage of the PSAU's mobile application. The results of this study should be useful to educational policymakers at PSAU University and elsewhere, as there is an opportunity to enhance the existing technology or adopt new technologies for academic activities.

Knowledge Sharing Among Accounting Students: An Exploratory Study

Omer Ali BAGAIS,Khaled Salmen ALJAAIDI,Ehsan Saleh AL-MOATAZ 한국유통과학회 2020 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.7 No.11

This paper explores the attitudes of accounting students toward knowledge sharing at Umm Al-Gura University for the academic year 2013-2014. The study explored knowledge sharing among 202 accounting students at Umm Al-Gura University in session during the 2013- 2014 academic year. Primary data came from a 3-item questionnaire collected from students; secondary data were source from scholarly publication. Descriptive statistics was used. The findings of this study revealed that the students had a medium to high degree of positive attitude toward knowledge sharing. The students had a positive perception of the use of knowledge sharing in supporting their education. The findings are essential for several stakeholders, such as university policymakers, lecturers, and the students, to provide a deeper understanding of knowledge sharing at the university education level. The findings may encourage policymakers at the university and the classroom levels to organize activities that promote knowledge sharing such as seminars, symposiums, or knowledge sharing exercises during the classroom hours to raise the students’ knowledge sharing behavior and enhance education. The results of this study should be useful to policy makers at the university level and the classroom level as there is a positive attitude in disseminating knowledge in the higher educational setting.

Effectiveness Score of the Board of Directors and Modified Audit Opinion: Empirical Evidence from Malaysian Publicly-Listed Companies

OMER, Waddah Kamal Hassan,ALJAAIDI, Khaled Salmen,YUSOF, Mohd Atef Md. Korea Distribution Science Association 2020 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.7 No.8

The study investigates the association between the effectiveness of the board of directors and the likelihood that a company receives a modified audit opinion (as a measure of the quality of companies' external financial reporting) in Malaysia. The sample companies were extracted from the population of publicly-available information mainly the annual reports of publicly-listed companies on the Bursa Malaysia. 136 firm-year observations listed on Bursa Malaysia were identified to examine the relationship between the effectiveness of the board of directors and a modified audit opinion. Data used in this study are collected from two separate sources - annual reports and Datastream. Any missing financial figure from Datastream was acquired from the annual reports. To test the study's hypotheses, we use the pooled cross-sectional logistic regression analysis for 136 firm-year observations listed on Bursa Malaysia over the period 2009-2011. The evidence we have uncovered is consistent with the hypothesis that companies with large score of the board of directors' effectiveness are less possible to receive a modified audit opinion. Therefore, the result confirms that the combined effect of the board of directors' characteristics has a significant negative association with the likelihood of the companies receiving a modified audit opinion.

Risk Management Functions and Audit Report Lag among Listed Saudi Manufacturing Companies

OMER, Waddah Kamal Hassan,ALJAAIDI, Khaled Salmen,AL-MOATAZ, Ehsan Saleh Korea Distribution Science Association 2020 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.7 No.8

This paper examines whether the combination of risk management and audit committee functions are associated with audit report lag. Audit report lag is considered an important aspect of the financial reporting. The financial reports are the main source of information for shareholders through which they make their decisions and it assists in reducing the information asymmetry. As the internal control mechanisms substitute the external ones, the internal board committees formed by the board of directors can reduce the audit work and, consequently, reduces the audit report lag. A key committee is the risk management committee. This paper examines whether the combination of risk management and audit committee functions are associated with audit report lag. We posit that a combination of such functions in one committee refereed as audit committee affects the audit report delay. Data were obtained from 198 manufacturing companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) for the years 2016-2018. A pooled OLS regression analysis shows that a combination of risk management and audit committee functions in a stand-alone committee named "audit committee" is associated with longer audit report lag. The outcomes suggest companies should prioritize the establishment of standalone risk management committee with activities separated from those of audit committees.

Government-Controlled Companies and Audit Committee Effectiveness: An Empirical Study on Saudi Stock Exchange

Raj Bahadur SHARMA,Omer Ali BAGAIS,Khaled Salmen ALJAAIDI 한국유통과학회 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.4

This study attempts to examine whether ownership of government-controlled corporations and audit committee effectiveness are related. The population of this study is 431 listed manufactured firms in the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) for the period 2012–2019 that published their financial and annual reports for the period 2012–2019. This population criterion is based on considerations that manufacturing companies listed on Tadawul have publicly accessible data and they have greater obligations to implement corporate governance code. Using the complementary hypothesis, this study predicts that there is a positive relationship between the ownership of government-controlled companies and audit committee effectiveness. The Pooled OLS regression shows that government-controlled companies’ ownership is positively associated with audit committee effectiveness. Our study also indicates that ownership of government-controlled companies as a governance monitoring mechanism becomes more effective as it is combined with audit committee effectiveness which is another governance monitoring mechanism. The results of this study provide insightful evidence to policymakers at the company and country levels on the relationship of government-corporate ownership and audit committee effectiveness.