Rahimah Mohamed Yunos
Faculty of Accountancy,
Universiti Teknologi MARA,
Campus Segamat

ABSTRACT

The objective of the study is to identify the influence of firms’ internal governance mechanisms on the timeliness of management and auditor reports. The governance mechanisms examined in this study is Board independence, Board size, CEO duality, audit committee meeting and audit committee expertise. Data was collected from 264 annual reports of listed companies on Bursa Malaysia for a sample period of 2013 to 2014. The results showed that a proportion of independent Directors on the Board, CEO duality and frequent audit committee meetings had significant effects on the timeliness of the reports. The findings indicated that firms’ governance mechanisms influence on how fast they were able to release information to the users; hence will promote effective communication and maintain their accountability to the stakeholders. The result of this study is beneficial to the policy makers, company management and stakeholders.

Keywords: timeliness reporting, management report lag, audit report lag, internal governance, board structure