The Value Relevance of the Interim Accounting Information: The Moderating Role of Ownership Structure and Board Characteristics – An Applied Study on Non-Financial Companies Listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange

The research aimed to study and test the moderating role of ownership structure and board characteristics (board size, board independence, and dual role of the chairman) on the value relevance of interim accounting information in companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange. The researcher relied on the price-earnings-book-value regression model (Ohslon, 95) for a sample of 175 quarterly observations and a total of 700 observations for 21 companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange from various industrial sectors during the period (2015-2023). The study concluded that the explanatory power of the price regression model increases as a result of the modifying role of each characteristic of the board of directors and the ownership structure, especially during the first quarter of the year.
Regarding the impact of board characteristics, the study concluded that there is a significant negative impact of board size, and there is also an insignificant negative impact of the interaction between board size and the information of book value of shares, while there is a significant positive impact of the interaction between board size and the information of interim profits in the first half of the year, and this impact is insignificant in the last half of the year. On the other hand, there is an insignificant positive effect of board independence on the value relevance of accounting information during the first quarter of the year, while it is insignificantly negative in the remaining periods. There is also an insignificant negative effect of the interaction between board independence and book value information, and an insignificant negative effect of the interaction between board independence and earnings information. This indicates that board independence does not affect the evaluative role of interim accounting information. In addition, there is a negative impact of the dual role of the Chairman of the Board of Directors in the first quarter of the year, while there is a positive impact in the remaining periods. There is also an insignificant positive impact of the interaction between the dual role of the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the information on the book value of shares, while there is an insignificant negative impact with the information on earnings. Finally, the institutional ownership structure has a positive, but insignificant, effect on the regression model.