Determinants of audit committee meeting frequency: evidence from Chinese listed companies

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of audit committee meeting frequency in Chinese listed companies. Design/methodology/approach - A multiple linear regression model, derived from the logarithmic model proposed by Raghunandan and Rama, is used to examine the determinants and an unbalanced panel data fixed effects model was used for robust tests. Findings - Based on 912 year‐firm observations, the authors found that audit committee meeting frequency was negatively associated with the proportion of shares owned by a majority shareholder and the number of audit committee meetings is less in stated‐owned firms than privately‐owned firms. Both audit committee and firm size were found to be positively associated with the frequency and there was a negative relationship between the proportion of independent directors on a board of directors and the number of audit committee meetings in China. However, no evidence was found of the associations of the frequency with the proportion of directors who are accounting experts on the audit committee, the CEO‐Chairman duality, management ownership, board size, BIG4 and profitability. Originality/value - This is the first paper to present empirical evidence on the determinants of audit committee meeting frequency in Chinese listed companies. The paper looks into the impact of firm ownership on the meeting frequency in China and finds that the number of audit committee meetings is less in stated‐owned listed firms than privately‐owned listed firms.