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This study explores the relationship between gender diversity in South African audit committees and financial reporting quality (FRQ) of non-financial companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from 2020 to 2024. A quantitative approach was employed to investigate these relationships, utilising an ex post facto design to collect data from the Osiris database and integrated annual reports. Gender diversity within audit committees was assessed using several measures: dummy variables indicating whether an audit committee had one female director (ACFD1) or two or more female directors (ACFD2), as well as the proportion of females on the committee (ACGD) and its square (ACGD²). FRQ was assessed using earnings management (EM), evaluated through accrual earnings management (AEM) and real earnings management (REM). The study applied both linear and curvilinear models, using fixed-effects models and Two-Stage Least Squares to test the hypotheses. The regression results revealed that ACFD1 had an insignificant negative impact on AEM and an insignificant positive impact on REM. In contrast, ACFD2 showed a significant negative impact on both AEM and REM. Additionally, ACGD had a significant positive impact on AEM, while ACGD² exhibited a significant negative impact. For REM, ACGD also had a significant positive effect, whereas ACGD² demonstrated a significant negative impact. These results indicate that audit committee gender diversity has an inverted U-shaped effect on both AEM and REM. The study's inverted U-shaped results align with critical mass theory, which suggests that a balanced representation of female directors (between 40% and 60%) can reduce earnings manipulation and enhance FRQ. Furthermore, these results provide a strong business case for increasing female representation to critical-mass levels, thereby minimising EM. Theoretically, this research underscores the importance of critical mass and collective action when examining the economic benefits of gender diversity in audit committees. Regulators are encouraged to consider audit committee gender diversity beyond mere numbers.

The study investigates governance challenges in South Africa’s state-owned entities (SOEs) by assessing disclosures provided in SOEs’ annual reports and financial statements regarding fraud, unauthorised expenditure, irregular expenditure, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure between 2022 and 2024, in line with section 55 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) No. 1 of 1999. Adopting an interpretivist research philosophy, the study utilizes qualitative methods through a content analysis of the annual reports and financial statements of the five sampled SOEs. The analysis revealed that, although the selected SOEs demonstrated partial compliance with Section 55 of the PFMA, significant governance and reporting shortcomings persist. While most SOEs maintained records and produced financial statements, none provided evidence of submitting these reports within the required timeframes, and one entity had not produced its 2024 reports by the cut-off date of 10 October 2025. The financial statements frequently lacked a fair and accurate reflection of each SOE’s financial position and performance. Disclosures related to financial misconduct were particularly weak and inconsistent, with irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure reported more often than cases of fraud or unauthorised expenditure, which were largely omitted. These disclosure shortcomings suggest that compliance among SOEs remains superficial and procedural rather than substantive, undermining accountability, transparency and the overall integrity of financial reporting.

This research investigates Computer-Assisted Audit Techniques (CAATTs) within the Internal Audit Unit at the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM). The study explores the extent to which CAATTs are utilized, the challenges faced in their implementation, and their impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of internal audits. Data was collected through a mixed-methods approach, including surveys and interviews with internal auditors. The findings reveal that while CAATTs, primarily TeamMate, are increasingly being used to automate audit processes, their adoption is hindered by limited access, insufficient training, and high costs. Despite these challenges, CAATTs have been shown to improve audit accuracy and efficiency, contributing to more timely and reliable audit outcomes. The study highlights the need for enhanced IT infrastructure, greater executive support, and comprehensive training to optimize the use of CAATTs. Based on these findings, the research provides several recommendations, including expanding the use of diverse CAATTs, investing in IT support, and fostering a culture of innovation to maximize the benefits of these technologies in internal auditing. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on CAATTs and offers practical insights for municipal internal audit units seeking to enhance their audit capabilities through technology.

Controlling corporate governance decision-making RISK is one of the prime safeguarding directives in the PCAOB’s requirement that the financials of Market Trading Firms [MTFs] are reasonably free from material error and thus are reliable indications of the results of operations. In this Corporate Governance Risk [CGR] context, it is important to understand the Interacting- & Integrated-Systemic Components of CGR and how they have evolved over time. We examine these aspects from Circa 1985 to date. We argue that the Driving Control System is: The Firm’s decision-making system of Internal Control over Financial Reporting [ICoFR] that impacts the Nature of CGR—to wit, Increasing CGRisk results as management experiences Increasing difficulties in maintaining adequate ICoFR. We examine the historical development of these systemic components and how they have spawned an Economic Sector of Firms that Rate & Score MTFs on the nature of their CGR profile, one currently predominate aspect of which is: The Nature of the MTF’s Caretaker Persona. With this as context, we present a duel-effect inferential design that examines the reliability of the Bloomberg™ Market Navigation Platform’s Institutional Shareholder Services™ [ISS]-Profiler as an information-link to be used in selecting MTFs to create CGR-sensitive Investment Portfolios. Our inferential results suggest for the MTFs in the ISS-Groups [{1: Lowest CGR} & {5: Mid-Level CGR} & {10: Highest CGR]}, it is likely that: (i) The decisions made by all involved in Management’s System of ICoFR, in its current COSO-version, are reflective of these MTF’s Caretaker Personas, (ii) The effects of these Caretaker Personas are analytically perceptible as reflected in the MTF’s Financials, and (iii) are aligned with the expected Nature of the ISS-Groups.

Despite anecdotal evidence indicating that a lack of management support towards internal audits (IAs) affects their efficacy, only a few studies have been conducted on the topic in a provincial government (PG) context. Besides, studies on the lack of management support towards IA efficacy lack theoretical grounding. This research aims to address this knowledge gap. The paper applied principal–agent theory to identify barriers to efficient management support towards the IA role within PGs, using the case of the Western Cape Government (WCG). Initially, questionnaires were sent to 260 WCG participants. The results revealed that management has a bad perception of IA as adding value to the organisation and does not take timely corrective actions based on audit findings and recommendations. The study adds to the limited knowledge about management and the IA relationship within PGs.