Satyam failure and changes in Indian audit committees

Abstract

Audit committees have received considerable attention globally in recent years. We examine the effects of the Satyam failure on changes in the composition and functioning of Indian audit committees. A corporate collapse that shook India’s markets and regulators, and widely noted of as “India’s Enron,” should have led to major improvements in the functioning of audit committees of Indian companies. Our empirical results show that the Satyam failure had a limited effect on Indian audit committees. We discuss implications for Indian audit committees as India seeks to harmonize its accounting and governance standards with international benchmarks.