Male versus Female Audit Committee Chair Characteristics and Capital Structure

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the audit committee chair characteristics influence the capital structure of the firm. Audit committees play a significant role in promoting the accuracy of financial statements on which the investors rely. I empirically test to see if there is an association between the presence of female audit committee chair characteristics and capital structure. Findings show no significance between audit committee chair characteristics and capital structure. However, I find a positive association between audit committee size and capital structure which shows that firms with large audit committees are associated with more debt.