Audit committee chair overlap, chair expertise, and internal auditing practices: Evidence from Malaysia

In this study, we extend the scarce literature on audit committee (AC) leadership by examining the internal auditing outcomes of AC chair overlap as measured by multiple committees of the same board the AC chair serves on and the financial expertise of the AC chair. Theoretical tension exists (busyness or overcommitment versus knowledge spillover theory) about whether overlapping membership of the AC chair can enhance or weaken monitoring effectiveness. We leverage the 2014 annual report disclosures of the internal audit practices for a sample of Top 100 nonfinancial firms in Malaysia. Our results indicate that overlapping membership of the AC chair is associated with poor internal audit practices, especially the absence of disclosure on compliance with the International Professional Practices Framework and the absence of an internal audit charter. In addition, we find that AC chair financial expertise is more likely to be associated with the adoption of risk-based internal auditing practices.