Gender Diversity in Audit Committees and Financial Statement Fraud Risk

Abstrak

This study examines the effect of gender diversity in audit committees on financial statement fraud risk, measured using the Beneish M-Score, among energy, financial, and consumer goods companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange over the 2020-2024 period, while controlling for firm size, leverage, and profitability. Grounded in Feminine Social Theory, the study employs a quantitative causal-associative design, drawing a purposive sample of 147 firm-year observations from 77 listed companies whose annual reports, governance disclosures, and audited financial statements were analyzed through descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression after the classical assumption tests were satisfied. The findings reveal that the proportion of women on audit committees does not significantly affect fraud risk, whereas leverage exerts a significant positive effect, and firm size and profitability show no significant influence; taken together, however, the four variables jointly affect fraud risk and explain 5.5 percent of its variance, as reflected in the adjusted R-square. These results suggest that gender diversity alone, at an average representation of merely 23 percent of audit committee seats, remains insufficient to strengthen oversight effectiveness, while financial pressure stemming from high leverage continues to stand out as the more decisive driver of financial statement manipulation. The study contributes to the corporate governance literature by jointly testing board-level gender composition and firm-level financial pressure within fraud-prone sectors, and it offers practical implications for companies and regulators seeking to strengthen audit committee effectiveness and curb financial statement fraud in the Indonesian capital market.