International Journal of Disclosure and Governance最新文献

We aim to investigate the impact of mandatory key audit matters (KAMs) disclosure on audit report lag (ARL). Additionally, we examine the potential moderating effect of firm size on the association between KAMs and ARL. We conduct Ordinary Least Square regression analyses using a sample of 602 firm-year observations from 2018 to 2020. Our findings indicate that the disclosure of KAMs is associated with a reduction in firm ARL. Furthermore, we find that the association between KAMs and ARL is particularly pronounced in large firms, suggesting that the impact of KAMs disclosure on ARL is more significant in this context. Additionally, our research reveals that the negative association between KAMs disclosure and ARL becomes more prominent when the education level of the audit committee chair is higher. Our findings underscore the importance of transparent reporting through KAMs disclosure and the role of knowledgeable and educated individuals in audit committees in facilitating a more efficient and timely audit process. Also, our finding indicates that the beneficial effect of KAMs may be more noticeable to larger firms.

This paper analyzes the financial and corporate governance characteristics of firms sanctioned for insider trading and disclosure irregularities on Euronext Paris between 2010 and 2022. We identify criteria that separate fraudulent firms from their peers and show that cash flow volatility and the absence of analyst coverage increase the likelihood of sanctions by the French market authority. Founder CEOs, family board chairs, and dual chair/CEOs are also more likely to be sanctioned for financial market abuses. However, we find that the level of family ownership does not affect the likelihood of sanctions, suggesting that top insiders are willing to extract private benefits at the expense of the company’s long-term performance. Our results also indicate that most fraud firms get delisted within a few years of their sanction announcement. Although most surviving companies still have a dual family chair/CEO after their sanction, they include independent board members as recommended by the two French governance codes. Last, this study investigates whether sanctioned companies rely on earning management techniques such as income smoothing to hide their real performance from market participants. Our results show that sanctioned firms are actually less likely to use income smoothing activities. In addition, we find that financial analysts play a mixed role in improving public information disclosure. Although analyst coverage reduces the likelihood of sanctions and earnings smoothing activities, larger pools of analysts are also associated with a greater probability of sanction in family-controlled firms, suggesting that analysts tend to herd and fail to detect fraudulent activities.

This paper aims to review the literature on gender diversity on top management teams and its impact on firm’s performance and audit quality. Over the period of 1997–2023 a total of 125 published articles were identified. Main findings reveal that literature on gender diversity continues to be contradictory, inconsistent and inconclusive regarding its impacts on firm’s performance and audit quality, highlighting the need to intensify research on this field to validate empirically those relationships. The literature review informs researchers on other audiences about the main characteristics of the literature on gender diversity and identifies several research gaps in the area.

This research explores the ways in which firm-level governance, specifically insider and institutional ownership, affects future value through the lens of agency theory. Then, we evaluate how country-level governance influences the value impact of insiders and institutions. Our analysis employs NIFTY-500 listed companies for 11 years, from 2010 to 2020. Findings suggest that the effect of insider ownership on future value is nonlinear, and the impact of institutional ownership is detrimental for the entire sample. Nonetheless, differential value impacts of insiders and institutions are observed between the insider and noninsider firms. We observe an inverted U-shaped and U-shaped effect of insiders on future value for insider and noninsider firms, respectively. Insider firms witness a declining value impact, while noninsider firms experience an incremental value impact from institutional investors. Further findings indicate that though country-level governance has little bearing on institutional investors, it effectively reduces insiders’ expropriation effect that enhances future value.

In this study, we examine how sectors of the National Stock Exchange from India respond to the uncertainties introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. By examining the synchronization between the sector-specific and overall market index (NIFTY 50) reaction to COVID-19, we contribute to the inconclusive ongoing academic literature regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the stock market, especially in the context of persistence in an emerging market. To analyze the persistence of sectoral indices, we apply multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA). We use the generalized Hurst exponent and singularity spectrum as indicators for persistence and spectral width as a measure of volatility. Our analysis shows that the sample sectoral indices are persistent before and after the announcement of COVID-19; however, volatility in some sectors reduces post-announcement of COVID-19. The findings will enrich the academic literature on the relationship between sector-specific and overall market indexes. In practice, the paper will guide investors to organize their portfolios, especially during future economic uncertainty.

This paper introduces a catering hypothesis of ESG disclosure, where managers adjust their disclosure policies based on investor valuation of high-disclosure companies. The study examines 2207 US-listed firms from 2005 to 2022 and finds a significant positive relationship between the ESG disclosure premium and firm ESG reporting. Managers respond to prevailing investor demand for ESG data by disclosing more when investors place a stock price premium on companies with high disclosure levels and disclosing less when investors prefer companies with low disclosure levels. This research enriches sustainability accounting literature by exploring the impact of managerial decision-making and investor demand on ESG disclosure, providing insights for stakeholders and policy development. It also expands understanding of the connection between corporate policy, sustainability, and catering considerations, benefiting stakeholders, directors, and investors interested in improving ESG practices and capital allocation for sustainable development.

This study examines the association between internal corporate governance (board size, outside directors, Shariah board size, and training of Shariah board members) and the sustainability practices of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs). The sample includes 59 IFIs listed in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America over the period 2017–2021. We examine the relationship between internal corporate governance (board size, outside directors, Shariah board size, and training of Shariah board members) and sustainability practices using the ordinary least squares (OLS) method. Overall, our findings suggest that larger boards of directors and Shariah boards achieve greater sustainability. We also find a positive relationship between the training of Shariah board members and sustainability practices. Additionally, outside directors have an insignificant impact on sustainability practices. This study provides useful insights for managers and policymakers to better understand which internal governance mechanisms, especially board size, Shariah board size, and the training of Shariah board members, can best encourage a company to improve sustainable development practices.

This study intends to examine and visually map the body of academic literature connected to the significant aspects of ESG from a bibliometric standpoint. The study sample examined 785 documents from the Scopus database covering over 295 different journals from 1992 to 2023. The Biblioshiny R package assessed influential research domains and employed sequential evaluation to determine the potential relationship between ESG and performance. Over the last decade, the literature on ESG performance has seen substantial growth. Our results affirm ESG's emergence in sustainable finance, evident in the rising trend of both publication numbers and total citations. The leading journal in terms of productivity is Sustainability (Switzerland). Buallay A, who regularly delivers varied research across many industries that investigate the influence of sustainability reporting emerges as the most impactful and noteworthy author in the field of ESG. The impact of ESG on performance, ESG investment, performance measurement, and corporate sustainability are the major themes, and the effect of ESG on funds’ performance and green technology innovation are the emerging themes in the domain. The result of the coupling analysis revealed six significant clusters of which three clusters, marked by high impact and centrality, encompass corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, and industrial performance. Conversely, the other three clusters are deemed low impact and centrality, covering environmental, social, and sustainable development concerns. The findings significantly enhance our comprehension of ESG and its relationship with performance, contributing to the effective functioning of capital markets in fostering sustainability and sustainable development. The study's practical implications are crucial, offering valuable insights and charting promising directions for future research.

This study investigates whether Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure can be a predictor of ESG performance among Thai firms listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Employing a multidimensional approach, the research scrutinizes the relationship between ESG disclosure and performance, distinguishing between hard and soft disclosure forms. Utilizing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) for data analysis and employing a multiple regression approach for robustness testing, the study draws on a sample of 241 observations from 67 firms spanning the period 2016–2019. The findings indicate that the measurement models of ESG performance are statistically significant. However, both hard and soft ESG disclosures were found to be insignificantly associated with ESG performance overall. Further examination reveals statistically significant associations between ESG disclosure and individual dimensions of ESG performance. Specifically, environmental and social hard disclosures demonstrate significant relationships with environmental and social performance, whereas governance hard disclosure and all dimensions of ESG soft disclosure exhibit no such association with performance. These results suggest that while hard disclosure of environmental and social activities by Thai listed firms tends to reflect their actual performance, soft disclosure across ESG dimensions may lack reliability. Stakeholders are advised to exercise caution when interpreting a firm’s ESG report. Additionally, Thai regulators are encouraged to prioritize ESG hard disclosure, given its apparent reliability and credibility.