The Impact of Audit Committee Quality on the Relationship between Integrated Reporting Quality and ESG Performance: Conceptual Paper

Abstract

This study aims to build theoretical frameworks on how audit committee quality affects ESG sustainability performance and how integrated reporting quality affects the same performance. This will help future empirical research to examine how the interaction of these two factors affects ESG sustainability performance. The aim is to find out whether these dimensions work synergistically or independently in impacting sustainability performance. This study recommends using companies listed on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets as a sample for the study, given their status as emerging markets that are constantly evolving and seeking to keep pace with global regulatory legislation. The study finds that the interaction between audit committee quality and integrated reporting quality will have a significant positive impact on ESG performance. The study gives regulators, companies, and stakeholders theoretical insights that can be used to push for integrated reporting and strict corporate governance through audit committees. This way, companies can create value over the long term and achieve transparency and accountability, which means that stakeholders' interests are met through sustainability.