Providing A Model for Improving the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the Audit Committee with A Grounded Theory Approach

Given the key role of the audit committee in the structure of corporate governance, the necessity of paying attention to the dimensions of efficiency and effectiveness of the committee is a subject which has attracted on the opinion of the researchers and the legislatures. Of course, Due to the existence of an audit committee in the company, assurance is not achieved into high quality financial reporting and the existence of sufficient and appropriate controls. Fulfilling the responsibilities of the committee in an efficient and effective manner is of great importance, which has been neglected in most companies’ audit committees in Iran. In this research, which is considered as a qualitative and exploratory research, it has been attempted to provide a model for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the audit committee by the method of grounded theory. To do so, in 2020 and 2021, 21 experts in the field of audit committee, the members of board and audit committees and university professors were arranged in-depth interview. The results of the study indicate that the efficiency and effectiveness of the audit committee, under the influence of personality traits, gender, ethical characteristics, compensation system, experience, intelligence, environmental requirements, environmental pressures and incentives, interaction (with management, auditor and ... ), number, composition and number of meetings, committee decisions, characteristics of the client, organizational culture and characteristics of business and competition in the market. The findings of this study indicate that the consequences of the efficiency and effectiveness of the audit committee include such as improving the quality of financial reporting, providing stakeholder benefits, increasing productivity, creating added value and strengthening and helping to fulfill the supervisory responsibilities of the board.