How Does Internal Governance Improve the Financial Reporting Quality of Banking Institutions?

This study examines the influence of board attributes on the financial reporting quality (FRQ) of Saudi commercial banks using panel data covering the period 2013–2025 via pooled OLS, fixed-effects, and random-effects models. The findings show that board independence and board meeting frequency are positively associated with FRQ, highlighting the importance of active board oversight in promoting reporting transparency. In contrast, board size and board diversity exhibit negative associations with FRQ. The negative effect of board size may reflect coordination and communication challenges, while the influence of board diversity appears limited within the Saudi banking context. Unlike most previous studies that rely on accrual-based proxies, this study assesses FRQ through qualitative characteristics, providing new evidence from the Saudi banking sector.