Characteristics of Audit Committee and Earnings Management in Developing and Developed Countries, Using Meta-Analysis Approach

The aim of this study is integrating the incompatible and contradictory conclusions of the past empirical studies made on the impacts of Audit Committee on Earnings Management in developing and developed countries as well as the main evidence of the contradictions existing in above-mentioned studies. For more precisely collecting the incompatible conclusions of numerous completed studies, meta-analysis technique and Garcia-Meca and Sanchez-Ballesta research plan have been used. The technique was applied to a sample consisting of 30 independent studies made in during 2000-2019. The results of examining the relation of the characteristics of the Audit Committee and the Earnings Management indicate that while in developing countries the independence and financial expertise characteristics are negatively related to Earnings Management, and the size and number of the meetings of the Audit Committee is not significantly related to Earnings Management; in developed countries, the independence and the size of the Audit Committee characteristics are negatively and significantly related to Earnings Management, and the financial expertise and number of the meetings of the Audit Committee have no significantly related to Earnings Management. Examining the relation of financial expertise and Earnings Management suggests that the studies are heterogeneous. For finding out the factors of this heterogeneity, the criteria and indices of Earnings Management were grouped based on the quality of financial reporting, total accruals, Jones Models, and other models used in the studies made in respect of developed countries and calculation of intragroup chi-square statistics. We found out that financial expertise and Earnings Management.