Imen Khelil

Prince Sultan University, Accounting, Faculty Member

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Papers by Imen Khelil

Ethical Behavior of Firms and Foreign Direct Investments in African Settings: The Moderating Effect of Judicial Independence

Journal of African Business

Internal auditors’ moral courage: a cognitive mapping method

Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., Dec 10, 2020

The effect of the strength of auditing and reporting standards on infrastructure quality in Africa: do ethical behaviour of firms and judicial independence matter?

Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of the strength of auditing and reporting stand... more Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of the strength of auditing and reporting standards (SARS, hereafter) on the quality of infrastructure in African countries and tests whether the ethical behaviour of firms and judicial independence affect this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of 108 country-year observations spanning from of 2014–2017. Data concerning the main variables in this study (the quality of infrastructure, SARS, ethical behaviour of firms and judicial independence) are gathered from the Global Competitiveness Reports for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Findings The findings of this study suggest that the SARS is positively related to the quality of infrastructure. Similarly, the ethical behaviour of firms has a positive and significant effect on the same variable. When testing for the moderating effects of ethical behaviour of firms and judicial independence, the association between SARS and the quality of infrastructure remains posi...

National culture and audit report lag: cross-country investigation

Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the effect of national culture (power distance, individuali... more PurposeThis study aims to investigate the effect of national culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation) on audit report lag.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use two econometric approaches (ordinary least squares (OLS) and quantile regression) using STATA software for a sample of 1,208 firm-year observations over the period of 2017–2018.FindingsUsing Hofstede’s (2001) cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation), the authors find that masculinity and long-term orientation are positively associated with audit report lag, while uncertainty avoidance is negatively associated with the same variable. Quantile regressions suggest that the adverse effect of masculinity on audit report lag is more prevailing for companies communicating companies' annual reports in a timely manner. Furthermore, the positive association between power distance and audit repor...

Tax avoidance in family firms: a literature review

Journal of Financial Crime

Purpose This paper aims to review the empirical literature dealing with the association between f... more Purpose This paper aims to review the empirical literature dealing with the association between family firms and tax avoidance. Design/methodology/approach Empirical papers are collected based on electronic searches in several editorial sources (e.g. Elsevier, Emerald, Meridian Allenpress, Springer, Sage, Taylor and Francis and Wiley-Blackwell) in family-related, accounting and finance journals. Key words used to identify relevant studies are “family firms” or “family ownership” combined with “tax avoidance”, “tax aggressiveness”, “tax evasion” and “tax heaven”. This search yields 21 published papers over the period of 2010–2022. Findings The summary of empirical studies examining the relationship between family firms and tax avoidance suggests that the majority of them have been conducted in Germany, USA and Taiwan and other European civil law countries. The association between family firms and tax avoidance is negative in USA, Finland and Belgium. By contrast, the relationship bet...

Internal auditors’ perceptions of their role as assurance providers: a qualitative study in the Tunisian public sector

Meditari Accountancy Research, 2021

Purpose The objective of this paper is to provide insights into internal auditors’ perceptions an... more Purpose The objective of this paper is to provide insights into internal auditors’ perceptions and experiences regarding their role as assurance providers in the Tunisian public sector through the detection, correction and reporting of internal control weaknesses and wrongdoings. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research is conducted based on organizational role theory and using semi-structured interviews with 13 chief audit executives across 13 Tunisian public-sector organizations. A thematic analysis of the responses of interviews is then performed. Findings The content analysis of internal auditors’ responses shows that ambiguity surrounds the role of Tunisian internal auditors within the public sector because they must serve multiple customers (e.g. informal groups in Tunisian society, managers and audit committees) with conflicting expectations. In addition, the authors find that they adopt a strategy of trade-off between commercial and professional values, tending to ...

Political connections, political corruption and auditing: a literature review

Journal of Financial Crime, 2021

Purpose Given the interest in better understanding the economic effects of political connections ... more Purpose Given the interest in better understanding the economic effects of political connections and political corruption on auditor behavior, this paper aims to review empirical studies in the accounting and finance domain dealing with these topics. Design/methodology/approach Keywords used to search for relevant studies include “political connections or political corruption” with “audit fees, audit report lag, audit independence and audit opinion.” This paper consults several editorial sources including Elsevier, Electronic Journals Service Elton B. Stephens Company, Emerald, Springer, Palgrave Macmillan, Sage, Taylor and Francis and Wiley-Blackwell. The search yields 16 published studies since 2006. Findings The review reveals that the majority of studies dealing with the economic effect of political connections are conducted in an Asian setting. Political connections increase the likelihood of receiving a favorable audit opinion and they are associated with higher audit fees lon...

Breaking the silence: An empirical analysis of the drivers of internal auditors' moral courage

International Journal of Auditing

This study investigates the effect of positive states, perceived supervisor support and independe... more This study investigates the effect of positive states, perceived supervisor support and independence of internal audit function on internal auditors' moral courage. Although extensive research has suggested that risk of feared consequences is the major cause that inhibits internal auditors from reporting managerial fraud, there has been little empirical investigation into the way of fostering internal auditors' moral courage to speak up. This study used a survey of 146 internal auditors in Tunisia. The partial least squares-structural equation model was used to test our hypotheses. The results indicate that self-efficacy, resilience, perceived supervisor support and the independence of internal audit function have a positive effect on the internal auditors' moral courage; however, state hope does not show a significant link. Additionally, we find that women experience higher levels of moral courage than men do.

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The association between internal control quality and audit report lag in the French setting: the moderating effect of family directors

Journal of Family Business Management

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to examine the association between internal control quality (I... more PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to examine the association between internal control quality (ICQ) and audit report lag (ARL) and to test whether family directors affect the relationship.Design/methodology/approachICQ is measured by using the framework developed by Michelon et al. (2015), while ARL is measured as the number of days from fiscal year-end to the date of the auditor's report.FindingsUsing a sample of 190 French companies over the period of 2016–2019, the authors document that ICQ is negatively associated with ARL, suggesting that ICQ represents a key determinant of audit delay. When testing for the moderating effect of family directors on this relationship, findings show that under high percentage of family directors on the board, this relationship becomes insignificant.Originality/valueThis paper extends previous research on audit delays by investigating the moderating effect of family directors on the relation between ICQ and ARL in the French setting. The empir...

Breaking the silence: An empirical analysis of the drivers of internal auditors' moral courage

by Imen Khelil and Khaled Hussainey

International Journal of Auditing

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Chief audit executives' perceptions of drivers of moral courage: Tunisian evidence

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation

A string of accounting-related scandals has revealed key shortcomings in internal auditor truthfu... more A string of accounting-related scandals has revealed key shortcomings in internal auditor truthfulness. These scandals have led researchers, professional organizations and institutions to question causes of internal auditor silence and the failure of ethical guidelines. This study responds to these questions by revealing moral courage as the missing ingredient in internal auditor ethical instruction and as the tool needed for internal auditors to preserve their integrity and overcome their fears. Building on what is currently known of internal auditors and moral courage, this study sheds light on professional and ethical requirements placed on internal auditors to tell the truth, and it emphasizes the role of moral courage in guiding their ethical behaviors. It also considers what must be known about the development of moral courage among internal auditors and seeks to identify the factors that promote internal auditors' moral courage through thirty structured interviews with chief audit executives.

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Audit committee – internal audit interaction and moral courage

Managerial Auditing Journal, 2016

Purpose This paper aims to offer empirical evidence about the effect of the interaction between t... more Purpose This paper aims to offer empirical evidence about the effect of the interaction between the audit committee and the internal audit function (IAF) on the moral courage of the chief audit executive (CAE). Design/methodology/approach A mixed approach was followed. In the first stage, questionnaires were sent to CAEs of 60 listed, financial and non-financial Tunisian companies. To enhance the depth of the analysis, in the second stage, semi-directed interviews with 22 CAEs from listed financial and non-financial Tunisian companies were performed. Findings This paper found that the existence of private access to the audit committee has a positive effect on the moral courage of the CAE. The number of meetings between the audit committee and the CAE, the examination of internal audit programmes and results together with the contribution of the audit committee to the appointment and dismissal of the CAE do not show a significant link with the moral courage of the CAE. It also found ...

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