Female Directors, Firm Risk, and Audit Report Lag: Evidence from Saudi Arabia

This study aims to examine the relationship between the presence of female directors and one of most important indicators of the efficacy of financial reporting, namely the Audit Report Lag (ARL). Furthermore, it tests the moderating role that firm risk plays in this relationship. To achieve these aims, 514 firm-year observations of Saudi non-financial firms from 2018 to 2021 were used, along with two measures for the ARL and two methods for calculating female directors. The results demonstrate that female directors are associated with shorter ARL. Moreover, the results suggest that firm risk, represented by firm leverage, moderates the relationship between female directors and ARL. The results' robustness has been validated by various tests. These results, the first of their type in the Saudi Arabian context, can assist market regulators and decision-makers in enhancing the timeliness of financial data disclosure in order to increase the efficiency of the capital market and win the trust of investors.