Audit committee involvement in resolving contentious accounting issues: perceptions of chief financial officers, audit committee chairs and external auditors in Malaysia

This paper reports the results of a survey of chief financial officers, audit committee chairs, and external auditors of Malaysian publicly listed companies to elicit their perceptions of the involvement of audit committees in resolving contentious accounting issues. A total of 98 usable responses were received. In general, we find that issues arise on a regular basis, with the main reason for contention being that the issue involves judgement or subjective evaluation. The audit committee is involved when the issue is very material. Respondents agree that the audit committee does help to resolve disputed issues, using various techniques including listening to the parties, making recommendations and raising queries. However, we find some differences in perceptions of the three respondent groups about the frequency of contentious issues and the extent of audit committee involvement. Auditors perceive that disputes occur less frequently while audit committee chairs perceive greater audit committee involvement compared to the other two respondent groups.