A framework for determining the influence of the corporate board of directors in accounting studies

Accounting, auditing, and tax professionals constantly evaluate the integri ty, competence, and financial performance of clients as factors in practice that influence both client acceptance decisions and the manner in which pr ofessional services are rendered. Yet, from an accounting perspective, prev ious research investigating the corporate board of directors as a governanc e mechanism has focused only on the representational role of board members. Moreover, many of these studies resulted in conflicting findings according to these attributes. Other disciplines address the particular influence of the board with respect to overall corporate performance, but arrive at lit tle agreement on either the effect of or the most critical of board attribu tes. This literature review synthesizes the existing research to provide a framework in which to evaluate the effect of the board of directors in acco unting settings and, in particular, when conducting future research that em ploys elements of corporate governance as dependent or independent variable s in accounting studies.