4.1.7 Xie, Davidson and DaDalt (2003)
Xie et al. (2003) examine the function of audit committee, board of directors, and
executive committee on earnings manipulation. This study focuses on current accruals and
analyzes 282 pre-SOX companies. First, they find that in terms of the board, more
independent outside directors lead to less earnings management, and the financial
experience of outside directors is also significant for reducing earnings management.
Second, frequent audit committee meetings can decrease the level of earnings
management. Third, the percentage of audit committee members with the experience in
corporate governance or investment banking is negatively related to earnings management.
These findings are consistent with most prior studies on earnings management, but Xie et
al. (2003) do not illustrate the causal relationship between earnings management and the
composition of board and audit committee. On one hand, the board and audit committee
can impact the extent of earnings management; on the other hand, the extent of earnings
management can also impact the selection of personnel on both audit committee and
board.
4.1.8 Park and Shin (2004)
By demonstrating that the responsibility of the board is to regulate the behaviors of
management in order to protect the interests of shareholders, Park and Shin (2004) test
how board composition influences the level of earnings management in Canada. They find
that upward earnings manipulation is to avoid earnings losses and declines, and outside
directors’ average tenure does not reduce the likelihood of earning management. They
suggest that increasing outside directors in board may not improve the quality of internal
governance, especially when the firms’ ownership is highly concentrated in Canada. It is
inconsistent with most of studies in this field in the U.K and U.S. The reasons why Park
and Shin (2004) get inconsistent results is that outside directors may lack efficient
investigation techniques to regulate earnings management. In addition, outside directors
have lower willingness to monitor their companies due to the lower ownership and
interests in the monitored companies. Moreover, most “outside” directors are not truly
independent because the market for quality directors is not well developed in Canada.