The Impact of Demographic Characteristics of Board of Directors and Audit Committee on Financial Reporting Quality: An Empirical Study from Pakistan

This study examines the impact of female representation on board of directors and audit committees on financial reporting quality, which also discusses the moderating role of family ownership in female representation on boards of directors and audit committees and financial reporting quality. The unbalanced panel is made up of 271 non-financial companies listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) from 2008 to 2019.The findings reveal that female representation on the board of directors has a large and negative impact on financial reporting, but female representation on the audit committee has a significant positive impact on financial reporting quality. Furthermore, the results reveal that family ownership has a negative impact on the relationship between female presence on boards of directors and financial reporting quality. Furthermore, the findings show that family ownership reduces the impact of female involvement in audit committees on the quality of financial reporting. However, family ownership has no direct impact on financial reporting quality.Our findings suggest that selecting females to serve on boards of directors and audit committees should be based on specific criteria (e.g., monitoring abilities, business competence, knowledge, and experience) rather than on family relationships.