• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.1205-1215
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• 2021

The study's purpose is to assess how board chairman tenure (BCT) contributes to limiting the earnings management practices (EM) in Iraqi banks. We compare the direct influence of the corporate governance mechanisms (CG) on EM practices and use BCT as a moderator that affects the influence of CG on EM. The sample of the study is the financial' firms listed on the Iraqi Stock Exchange for the period 2013-2018. Using purposive sampling data was collected from annual reports and data stream. We use the random effect model in panel data regression by using Stata to analyze the data. Findings proved that CG mechanisms insignificantly influence EM, except the meeting frequency was significant. By contrast, BCT had a positive and considerable influence as the moderating variable between CG and EM. These results suggested that the Chairman's tenure on the board lead to enhanced governance mechanisms to limit the EM practice in Iraqi financial firms. Accordingly, this study is one of the few studies in the Iraq environment that examine the influence of CG mechanisms on EM practices, in addition to examining the BCT as a moderator between CG and EM, thus, filling the gap in such studies in developing countries.