Internal audit findings, audit committees, and firm performance evidence from UK

Although researchers have paid increasing attention to how corporate governance influences firm performance, there has been limited focus on how the internal audit function impacts firm performance. This study thus examines how the implementation of internal audit recommendations (IIAR) impacts firm performance and whether audit committee characteristics increase or decrease this impact. By using the proportion of implemented recommendations over the total number of internal audit findings to measure IIAR, the results indicate that IIAR drives higher firm performance. Further, certain audit committee characteristics increase the positive effect of IIAR on firm performance. Additional robustness tests support the main results.