The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between audit committee characteristics and earnings management in industrial companies in Jordan namely those listed on the Amman Stock Exchange. Based on the agency theory and the resource dependence theory, this paper seeks to explore the impact of the audit committee size, independence, meeting frequency and financial expertise on the level of earnings management. In this study, we use panel data of 29 firms over the period 2016–2023 and the modified Jones model to estimate discretionary accruals as a proxy for earnings management. The results of our study show that all four measures of audit committee characteristics are significantly and negatively related to earnings management. Size of the audit committee, the level of independence, meeting frequency, and financial knowledge of the audit committee members are negatively related to earnings management. These findings extend the corporate governance literature by offering a systematic analysis of the aggregate effect of audit committee characteristics in a developing economy setting. The study has implications for policy makers and regulators especially in Jordan and other emerging economies and therefore should consider the establishment of effective audit committees to improve the quality of financial reporting and investor confidence.