Corporate governance characteristics and their effects on external audit fees : evidence from Jordanian companies

Abstract EN

This paper examined the relationship between corporate governance characteristics measured by independence of the board of directors, independence of the audit committee, accounting financial expertise of the audit committee, use of internal audit, annual meetings of the board of directors, accounting and financial expertise of the board of directors, annual meetings of audit committee and external audit fees, of a sample (60) listed firms for the year 2015.

Using multiple regression and Pearson correlation, the results provided an evidence of a positive significant correlation between the independence of audit committee, financial and accounting expertise of audit committee, and annual meetings of the board of directors and audit fees.

Also, the findings of the study supported the Jordanian laws and regulations recommendations to strengthen the external auditing and corporate governance mechanisms at public companies in Jordan.

The study, however, could not indicate the presence of an association between the annual meetings of audit committee, number of internal audit staff, accounting and financial experience of the board of directors, independence of the board of directors, and external audit fees