The Impact of Board Characteristics on Tax Avoidance: Do Industry Regulations Matter?

Christos Pavlou, Antonios Persakis () and George Kolias
Additional contact information
Christos Pavlou: Independent Authority for Public Revenue, P.S. 413 34 Larisa, Greece
Antonios Persakis: Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Thessaly, P.S. 415 00 Larisa, Greece
George Kolias: Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Ioannina, P.S. 453 32 Ioannina, Greece

JRFM, 2025, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-22

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of board characteristics on tax avoidance and the moderating role of industry regulation on this effect. Using a comprehensive panel of 84,153 firm-year observations from 39 countries during the period of 2000–2023, we illustrate that larger boards, higher female representation, significant foreign ownership, and the presence of independent directors are generally associated with higher effective tax rates, suggesting lower levels of tax avoidance. This study further demonstrates that the effects of board gender diversity and board independence are more pronounced in regulated industries, where stringent governance and ethical standards prevail, emphasizing the importance of regulatory oversight in mitigating aggressive tax planning. These findings are crucial for policymakers, regulators, and corporate governance practitioners aiming to align corporate practices with ethical standards and reduce the risks associated with tax avoidance.

Keywords: tax avoidance; board characteristics; industry regulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C E F2 F3 G (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/6/287/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/6/287/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:6:p:287-:d:1661648

Access Statistics for this article

JRFM is currently edited by Ms. Chelthy Cheng

More articles in JRFM from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().