Female independent directors and financial irregularities in Chinese listed firms: From the perspective of audit committee chairpersons

This paper investigates the impact of female chairpersons of audit committee on financial irregularities of Chinese listed firms, and tests the influence of tenure and organizational decision-making environment on these two factors. The results show female chairpersons are more inclined than male chairpersons to reduce financial irregularities. In addition, we find that female chairpersons are more capable to reduce financial irregularities than male chairpersons in two circumstances: increased tenure and open organization decision-making environment. Finally, we find that, by reducing financial irregularities, female chairpersons can further improve financial report quality including internal control quality and external auditor opinion.