The aim of this paper is to assess the extent of corporate governance voluntary disclosure and the impact of a comprehensive set of corporate governance attributes (board composition, board size, CEO duality, director ownership, block-holder ownership and the existence of audit committee) on the extent of corporate governance voluntary disclosure in Egypt. The measurement of disclosure is based on published data created from a checklist developed by the United Nations, which was gathered from a manual review of financial statements and websites of a sample of Egyptian companies listed on Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX). Although the levels of CG disclosure are found to be minimal, however disclosure is high for items that are mandatory under the Egyptian Accounting Standards (EASs).The failure of companies to disclose such information clearly shows some ineffectiveness and inadequacy in the regulatory framework in Egypt.Moreover, the phenomenon of non-compliance may also be attributed to the socio-economic factors in Egypt. Therefore, it is expected that Egyptian firms will take a long time to appraise the payback of increased CG disclosure. The findings indicate that that -ceteris paribus -the extent of CG disclosure: (1) is lower for companies with duality in position and higher ownership concentration as measured by block-holder ownership;and (2)

In this paper we apply meta-analysis to a sample of 64 empirical studies to identify the potential moderators to the relationship between board, audit committee characteristics and voluntary disclosure. We examine whether the results are affected by the differences in the construction of disclosure index, the type of voluntary disclosure, the method of disclosure, the definitions of variables relating to corporate governance, the level of investor protection, and country geographic location. We find that, whilst board size, board composition and audit committee have a significant positive effect on voluntary disclosure, CEO duality has a significant negative effect. In addition, country geographic location moderates the association between board size, board composition, CEO duality and voluntary disclosure. Furthermore, the association between CEO duality and voluntary disclosure is moderated by disclosure type, disclosure method and the level of investor protection. Finally, differences in the definitions of explanatory variables moderate the association between board composition and voluntary disclosure. We conduct a sensitivity analysis which provides evidence that, in respect of the time period, prior to 2002, CEO duality has a significant negative effect on voluntary disclosure and has an insignificant effect for the period thereafter.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between audit committee activity, external auditor’s size and internal control quality (ICQ) in the Egyptian setting. It also explores how external auditor’s size moderates the relationship between audit committee activity and ICQ. Design/methodology/approach – To obtain relevant information about ICQ in Egypt, the authors conducted a survey among external auditors using an internal control checklist. Findings – Results show that audit committee activity has a significant positive effect on ICQ. In addition, Big 4 auditors contribute significantly to the improvement of the ICQ in the Egyptian setting. Finally, the association between audit committee activity and ICQ is more pronounced when an organisation is audited by a Big 4 audit firm. Originality/value – The results this paper demonstrate that Big 4 auditors play a governance role in weak legal environment as exists in Egypt by strengthening the effectiveness of audit committee meetings. The findings also have policy implications for Egyptian standard-setters and other emerging economies characterised by an under-developed and poorly regulated audit market, with respect to the development of internal auditing standards.

This paper examines the level and determinants (i.e. ownership structure, board composition and audit committee presence) of voluntary corporate disclosure in the annual reports of the largest 100 companies listed on the Egyptian stock exchange (EGX). Our results indicate that overall voluntary disclosure was low at just 13.43% with a large variation range. This score places Egypt at a lower level than other emerging capital markets (e.g. Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia). The variances of these results support the need for individual country level studies and comparative analysis. Multivariate results show audit committee presence as the most significant variable influencing voluntary disclosure. Also, companies with a higher ratio of independent non-executive directors have a higher extent of voluntary disclosure. It was also evidenced that voluntary disclosure increases with decreases in block-holder ownership. Results show that two other ownership aspects -managerial and government -are not related to voluntary disclosure. Finally, the analysis shows profitability and internationality significantly impact voluntary disclosure. On the other side, that number of shareholders, type of auditor, size, liquidity, leverage and industry type of the firm do not affect the extent of voluntary disclosure.

This paper examines the impact of internal control quality (ICQ) on external audit delays as proxied by the auditor component of audit report lag (A-ARL) and the effect of the adoption of the Egyptian Standards on Auditing (ESA) on this relationship in the Egyptian context. Using a balanced panel data of 344 firm-year observations spanning from 2007 to 2010, we hypothesise and empirically find the following. First, ICQ represents a key determinant of timely disclosure, as it contributes significantly to the reduction of A-ARL. Second, the adoption of the ESA has significantly contributed to the improvement of audit practices by reducing A-ARL. Third, the adoption of ESA has also strengthened the relationship between A-ARL and ICQ for the post-adoption period of these standards. Additional analysis is conducted to examine the impact of industry characteristics on the relationship between ICQ and A-ARL and the association remains significant regardless of the sector considered. In order to make a more informative analysis, we examine the effect of ICQ on the management component of audit report lag (M-ARL) and we document a positive association between both variables. The results contribute to the literature dealing with the relation between A-ARL and ICQ by shedding light on the importance of ICQ in audit practices in an emerging country characterised by weak legal enforcement and a high level of secrecy. Findings also have policy implications for Egyptian standard-setters with respect to the development of internal auditing standards.