Audit Committee Influence on Accrual Earnings Management: The Moderating Role of Audit Quality

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effect of the audit committee on accrual-based earnings management with audit quality as a moderating variable. The population of this study includes manufacturing companies in the consumer goods sector, specifically the processed food industry subsector, listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during the 2021–2024 period. A purposive sampling technique was applied, and from the 23 companies in the population, 10 companies were selected as the sample. The study used secondary data obtained from annual reports and financial statements published on the official IDX website. A total of 40 firm-year observations were analyzed using multiple linear regression with SPSS version 27. The results indicate that the audit committee does not have a significant effect on accrual-based earnings management. In addition, audit quality does not moderate the relationship between the audit committee and accrual-based earnings management. These findings imply that the presence of an audit committee and the level of audit quality are not sufficient to reduce earnings management practices in the companies studied.