Audit Committee Characteristics and Financial Reporting Quality in Kenyan Non-Commercial State Corporations: The Moderating Roles of Accounting-System Automation and Staff Competence

This study examines associations between audit committee independence, diversity, financial competence, meeting practices and the audit-query ratio among non-commercial state corporations in Kenya. It also considers accounting system automation and staff competence as moderators. From 72 targeted corporations, 46 heads of internal audit responded (63.89%). All four committee characteristics were negatively correlated with the audit-query ratio (r = −0.352 to −0.451). Meeting practices showed the most consistent negative association across the reported regression models. The analysis contributes to public-sector accountability research by distinguishing audit-query exposure from broader financial reporting quality and by interpreting the available empirical evidence within its methodological limits. Keywords: audit committee independence; audit committee diversity; financial competence; audit committee meetings; public-sector accountability; financial reporting quality.