The influence of audit, an important component of corporate governance, on the companies’ performance in the energy sector

Abstract

The main purpose of the study is to analyze the impact of the audit as an element of corporate governance on the performance of companies in the energy sector, using regression analysis as its methodology. The sample consists of 140 European energy companies. To measure the results, the study considers independent variables (the existence of the audit committee, the independence of the committee, its expertise, the contractual period with the current external auditor and the existence of an internal audit department), dependent variables (return on assets and return on equity), and control variables (the size of the board of directors, the natural logarithm of total assets, and leverage). The results indicate that, of all the audit elements related to corporate governance, only audit committee independence has a significant and positive influence on a company’s financial performance. The originality of the work lies in the lack of scientific research on the chosen field during the period from 2019 to 2023.