A Study on the Impact of Digital Governance on the Quality of Accounting Information in Saudi Banks

Abstract

Research background and purpose: This study aimed to examine the impact of digital governance on the quality of accounting information in Saudi banks. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the study's objective and test its hypotheses, the descriptive-analytical approach was adopted to construct the theoretical framework. A field study was conducted on (319) financial managers, branch managers, heads of financial departments, and heads of electronic services departments in banks (12) during (2024-2025). The results were analyzed using regression analysis through IBM SPSS 31 program. Findings: It indicates that the importance of digital governance in improving accounting information quality, which contributes increasing the level of disclosure and transparency and this reflected in financial reports quality, and the existence of a statistically significant impact between digital governance and accounting information quality in banks listed on the Saudi Stock Market. The study recommends that the management of Saudi banks should enhance digital governance and implement it effectively and facilitate the procedures for digital updating of banking transactions, which will be reflected in improving accounting information quality, it is necessary to issue an accounting standard that defines best practices and develop digital accounting tools to benefit from digital governance in financial transactions to keep pace with the rapid development of information technologies and increase the level of disclosure in financial reports. Originality/value: The study is first in concerned on all dimensions of the qualitative characteristics of accounting information (relevance, credibility, comparability, understandability, appropriate timing, honest expression), while previous studies were limited to some of these dimensions. Also, studies that focused on accounting information quality did not address the dependent variable of digital governance directly. According to the researcher's knowledge, this is the first study that addresses digital governance and accounting information quality in the Saudi banking sector, which is one of the most important sectors in the Saudi economy.