The Effect of Audit Committee Characteristics on the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Earnings Quality

Earnings is one of the most important items of financial statements, which is considered as one of the decision-making criteria in companies to evaluate the performance and determine the value of the economic enterprise. The use of estimates and different accounting methods has made it impossible to look at the profit in a reliable way. In order to avoid wrong decisions, investors and creditors should not rely only on the profit figure, but should focus on quality earnings. Therefore, it is important to study the factors affecting the earnings quality. Based on the stated content, the present research examines the effect of audit committee characteristics on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and earnings quality in companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. In order to achieve the above objectives, two hypotheses were formulated. Therefore, in order to test the research hypothesis, a sample of 140 firms was selected from the firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange during the period 2015 to 2021. Multivariate regression model based on combined data was used to test the research hypothesis. The findings of the research showed that the corporate social responsibility has a positive and significant effect on the earnings quality, that is, an increase in the corporate social responsibility leads to an increase in the earnings quality; In addition, the results indicate that audit committee characteristics strengthen the relationship between corporate social responsibility and earnings quality.