In this study, we examine the association of audit committee chair financial, experiential and monitoring expertise with the audit report lag period. We find that the experiential and monitoring expertise of audit committee chairs have a significant negative association with the delay in the audit report lag period, possibly resulting in more effective audit committee chairs, at least in the face of financial reporting timeliness. We also find that the audit committee composite compliance variable has a significant negative association with the audit report lag period, which suggests that a firm's compliance with audit committee regulations is also beneficial for financial reporting timeliness. These are important findings from the practice, academic and public policy perspectives.

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Charity governance is undergoing a crisis of confidence. In this paper, we suggest an alternative approach to how governance could be perceived and conceptualized by considering the ethical notions of governance embedded in religious enquiry, with a specific focus on the Islamic perspective of governance. We firstly develop an ethical framework for charity governance, utilizing insight from the Islamic perspective. Secondly, we undertake an empirical study to assess the experience of governance within Islamic charity organizations. Our theoretical framework provides a comprehensive approach to viewing organizational governance with an emphasis on governance as a mechanism for working towards social justice and the public good. However, our empirical findings reveal an 'ethical gap' between the ideals of the Islamic Ethical Framework and the reality of governance practice within Muslim charity organizations. We consider the implications of these findings and outline avenues for future research.

Issues of accountability, legitimacy and trust have remained at the forefront of debate surrounding non-profit organisations and their activities. The purpose of this study is to review the literature on non-profit accountability from the lens of organisational legitimacy. Specifically, we ask what we can learn from the literature on non-profit organisation (NPO) accountability and consider what further work needs to be done to strengthen NPO legitimacy. We attempt to go beyond mere gap-spotting and seek to challenge the current status quo within this body of literature.