This study examines how audit committee (AC) characteristics influence the disclosure of Key Audit Matters (KAMs) across nine stock exchanges in eight Middle Eastern Arab countries during 2018–2022. Drawing on agency theory, the study adopts the governance-effectiveness perspective that a lower number of KAMs signals stronger AC oversight and, consequently, higher audit quality and corporate governance. Using a manually collected panel of 1,765 firm-year observations, the analysis employs fixed-effects regression, complemented by multiple robustness checks, including an alternative disclosure measure (KAM length), a two-step system GMM estimator, and re-estimation after excluding financial institutions. The results show that AC financial expertise, independence, and meeting frequency significantly reduce the number of KAMs reported. On the other hand, while committee size shows insignificant relationship, gender diversity is positively related, suggesting that diversity may foster more transparent audit reporting. The findings provide the first comprehensive regional evidence linking AC attributes to auditor reporting outcomes in Arab capital markets. They extend agency theory by demonstrating that audit reporting can serve as an observable reflection of governance effectiveness. Regulators and boards can use these insights to strengthen AC structures, enhance financial expertise and independence, and improve audit transparency across emerging markets.

Title

international journal of disclosure and governance

Publisher

Springer

Publisher Country

Germany

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

2.4

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

--

Year

2026

Pages

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