Board of Directors, audit committee, auditor characteristics and timeliness of financial reporting in listed companies in Indonesia

This study aims to investigate the relationship between the board of directors, audit committee and auditor characteristics, and timeliness of financial reporting in listed companies in Indonesia. Cohen et al.(2004) suggested that the board of directors, management, and internal and external auditors could influence the financial reporting quality, including timeliness of financial reporting. In addition, there is a lack of studies in countries in which the board system is a two-tier board system, such as is practiced in Indonesia. This study uses 218 companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Market from 2006 to 2008 (n=654). Thus, the analysis method used is panel data analysis. Audit report lag and management report lag models are used in this study. The results show that several board characteristics affect the timeliness of financial reporting. Specially, board sizes, board shareholding, board multiple directorship and length of service are
significantly related to audit report lag. Further, board composition, board size, board shareholding, board expertise and knowledge, age of board members, and length of service of board members is significantly related to the management report lag. In addition, the audit committee characteristics also affect the timeliness of financial reporting. The significant variables are audit committee financial expertise and audit committee size. Other findings show that internal audit existence has a significant relationship with the audit report lag whereas the external auditor opinion has a significant relationship with the management report lag. There are three control variables: return on assets, company size and company leverage. Return on assets and company size are significantly related to the audit report lag, whereas only return on asset is associated with the management report lag.