The Influence of Audit Quality, Audit Committee, CEO Characteristics, and Profitability on Earnings Management in Infrastructure Companies Listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2021-2025

Abstract

Purpose: Earnings management remains a serious problem in Indonesia's infrastructure sector, as shown by alleged financial statement manipulation cases at PT Waskita Karya, PT Wijaya Karya, and PT Nusantara Infrastructure during 2021-2025. This study aims to examine, both simultaneously and partially, the effect of audit quality, audit committee, CEO characteristics, and profitability on earnings management in infrastructure companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2021-2025. Methods: This study uses a quantitative approach with panel data regression. From a population of 70 infrastructure companies, 37 companies were selected through purposive sampling; after removing three outlier companies, the final sample is 34 companies with 170 balanced panel observations. Earnings management is measured by discretionary accruals using the Modified Jones Model; audit quality by a Big Four dummy; the audit committee by its number of members; CEO characteristics by CEO tenure; and profitability by Return on Assets. Data were analyzed with EViews 12 through descriptive statistics, panel model selection, and hypothesis testing. Results: The model is significant, meaning the four variables simultaneously affect earnings management, with an adjusted R-squared of 5.33%. Partially, audit quality has a negative and significant effect, the audit committee has a positive and significant effect , contrary to the hypothesized direction; while CEO characteristics  and profitability  have no significant effect. Implications: Big Four auditors are an effective external monitoring mechanism, whereas adding audit committee members without ensuring competence and independence weakens oversight. Regulators should therefore emphasize the substantive effectiveness of audit committees rather than formal compliance, and investors can use auditor reputation as a signal of financial reporting quality.