The role of audit committees in reducing fraud in financial reports An empirical study on a sample of companies listed in the Iraq Stock Exchange

Abstract

Audit committees are one of the most important governance mechanisms, and fraud is one of the most serious threats to the fairness of financial statements, which draws the attention and interest of users of financial statements. The current study aims to explain fraudulent operations in financial statements and their impact on the economic unit and highlight the role of audit committees in reducing Fraud operations in the financial statements. The study included a sample of companies listed on the Iraqi Stock Exchange. This study relies on two basic scientific research approaches: the (inductive) approach and the (descriptive-analytical) approach. The study concluded that there is a negative (inverse) moral correlation. ) between the financial specialization of the audit committees and the level of fraud in financial reports, that is, as the number of members from financial specializations within the audit committees increases, this will be accompanied by a decrease in the level of fraud in financial reports, and one of the most important recommendations that emerged from the study is that the economic units in the study sample should increase the number of elements Financial expertise in audit committees in order to increase the committee’s efficiency and reduce fraud cases.