The Association between Audit Committee Characteristics and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure in GCC Countries

This study aims to investigate the association between audit committee (AC) characteristics and corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The study adopts a stakeholder theory perspective to explore this relationship. An un-weighted index consisting of 33 information items divided into three categories has been created to access the level of CSRD within the 225 listed companies sample included in this study. The study includes four independent variables which represent the AC characteristics namely, size, independence, financial expertise, and engagement. The study developed and tested four hypotheses to reveal the relationships between AC characteristics and CSRD. Using multiple regression analysis models on the collected data, the study finds that there is an insignificant positive association between CSRD and AC size and AC expertise. Whereas a significant negative relationship was found between CSRD and AC independence. The regression results also show a significant positive association between CSRD and AC engagement. The findings partially support the stakeholder theory perspective adopted in this study. The study concludes that the average CSRD in GCC countries is less than its counterpart in developed countries. The outcomes of this study may be of particular interest to governments, regulators and other stakeholders who need to exert more pressure on the management of GCC listed companies to enhance the level of CSRD in their financial reporting.