The Presence of Controlled Family Members on the Board, Board Size, Board Meetings and Audit Quality in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The aim of this study is to theoretically and empirically provide evidence on the association of the royal family board members, the number of board of directors and the board of director meetings with the choice of auditor for 505 non-financial listed companies in the Saudi Stock Exchange during 2012-2015. This study identifies two types of audit firms: (1) Big-4 and (2) Non-Big-4 auditors. Using pooled logic regression, this study documents the likelihood of Big 4 audit firms being associated with a company which has royal family board members, the number of board of directors and the board of director meetings. The outcomes of this study have significant implications on the issues surrounding auditor independence in the Saudi Arabian setup.