The relevance of legal requirements in the going public process: the discretionary decision of adopting an audit committee

Leticia Castaño, José E. Farinós and Ana M. Ibañez

European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 2024, vol. 35, issue 3, 346-360

Abstract: PurposeWe study the role of having an audit committee (AC) as a signal of firm quality and as a monitoring device of the information quality contained in the listing prospectus.Design/methodology/approachOrdinary Least Squares regressions are used to examine the association between the presence of an audit committee and (1) the initial return (IR), and (2) the earnings forecast error in the listing prospectus in a sample of 55 Real Estate Investment Trusts that went public on the BME Growth market during 2013–2022. Heckman two-step estimation procedure to correct for endogeneity and bootstrap are used for robustness.FindingsWe show that IR and earnings forecasts are significantly affected by the presence of AC. The IR is higher and the earnings forecast included in the prospectus are of higher quality in firms with AC.Practical implicationsOur research provides (1) managers with new tools when deciding on their corporate governance structure in the listing process, (2) specific evidence for regulators on the role played by ACs in the process of going public, which may be useful in the context of the ongoing regulatory changes regarding admission processes in Europe, and (3) society with a sign that AC can enhance investor and public confidence in financial markets and foster a more stable and transparent investment environment.Originality/valueThe adoption of an AC is voluntary in this market, so this discretionary decision provides an exceptional opportunity to conduct such an analysis. Additionally, this issue has not been previously analysed in Europe.

Keywords: Corporate governance; Audit committee; Going public; Initial return; Earnings forecast; Real estate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ejmbep:ejmbe-01-2024-0018

DOI: 10.1108/EJMBE-01-2024-0018

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