The Relationship between Audit Committee Characteristics and Governance in Public Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

          This research is to investigates the relationship between audit committee characteristics and good governance. The sample consists of 83 public universities in Thailand, including autonomous and non-autonomous institutions. The collected data include the number of audit committee members, the number of members with academic backgrounds in accounting or finance, the frequency of committee meetings per year, the scores from the Integrity and Transparency Assessment (ITA), and auditors’ opinions on financial reports. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were employed, along with Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression analysis.

          The findings reveal that most universities scored high on the ITA, reflecting strong governance practices. However, variations in governance structures were observed among institutions. For example, some universities lacked an audit committee or members with accounting expertise, while others appointed up to four committee members and held as many as 13 meetings per year. Correlation and regression analyses indicate a statistically significant negative relationship (p < 0.05) between the frequency of audit committee meetings and ITA scores. This suggests that institutions with strong governance require fewer meetings due to effective internal control systems, whereas those with lower governance scores may increase meeting frequency to compensate for governance deficiencies. In contrast, no statistically significant relationship was found between ITA scores or auditors’ opinions and either the number of audit committee members or the number of members with accounting expertise.