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International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2225-8329

Gender Diversity on Board and Financial Reporting Quality in an Emerging Country

Wan Razazila Wan Abdullah, Enny Nurdin Sutan Maruhun, Norzarina Noordin, Naimah Ahmad Yahya

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARAFMS/v11-i3/11179

Open access

The board of directors’ monitoring function derived from the agency theory plays a crucial role in mitigating agency problems and monitoring managerial decisions to protect shareholders’ interests and to ensure high-quality financial reporting. There is a recent growing stream of research on the effects of gender differences that state that the presence of women on the board of directors could bring about positive outcomes in a firm’s performance, corporate monitoring, and oversight. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether the gender diversity of the board of directors has a significant impact on the firm’s financial reporting quality proxied by earnings management. This study employs panel data analysis of the financial data and qualitative data for the period from 2016 until the latest ones 2020 of Malaysian listed companies, as evidence from emerging countries. The empirical results of this study indicate that female directors on board mitigate earnings management. Thus, the results provide insights for regulators and policymakers; that the presence of female directors will affect management decisions and audit quality, therefore gender diversity on board should be further emphasized.

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In-Text Citation: (Abdullah et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Abdullah, W. R. W., Maruhun, E. N. S., Noordin, N., & Yahya, N. A. (2021). Gender Diversity on Board and Financial Reporting Quality in an Emerging Country. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting Finance and Management Sciences, 11(3), 586-600.