Corporate Governance and Financial reporting

Contemporary research is emphasizing the development of sound accounting systems in SMEs in
order to improve financial management in these entities. This research investigated accounting record
keeping practices for performance measurement employed by SMEs in Zimbabwe, using Bindura as a
case. The survey research design was used. The target population comprised of 100 SMEs operating
retail shops, manufacturing firms and suppliers of various services in Bindura. A structured
questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the respondents which was analysed to generate
frequencies and percentages. The study revealed that the majority of SMEs do not keep complete
accounting records because of lack of accounting knowledge and as a result there is inefficient use of
accounting information in financial performance measurement. The study recommended that national
regulators must develop specific accounting guidelines for SMEs and develop accounting training
programmes for entrepreneurs in small businesses. The study also recommended mandatory record
keeping, to improve accounting practices of SMEs in Zimbabwe.

This paper is a literature review of recent corporate governance research in Nigeria. It identifies the recent advances and challenges in the literature and suggest some directions for future research. A comprehensive review of the recent corporate gov-ernance literature is important because it provides a basis to compare the corporate governance experience in Nigeria with the corporate governance experience in other African countries and developing countries. The findings from the literature review reveal that the board of directors is the most explored corporate governance determinant in the Nigerian corporate governance literature. Most studies focus on some corporate governance determinants, and ignore other corporate governance determinants in firms. There is some consensus that corporate governance failure in Nigeria is caused by multiplicity of factors such as lack of political will by the government to enforce corporate governance laws, deliberate refusal to comply with existing corporate governance laws by politically connected firms, weak compliance by firms, weak enforcement by regulators, and conflicting codes in the country's corporate governance codes. Also, recent corporate governance studies do not systematically build on previous corporate governance studies. Regarding methodology , most Nigerian corporate governance studies are merely experimenting different methods of analyses without advancing the literature in a significant way. The study also finds that the 2018 Nigerian code of corporate governance solves some problems and create new problems for Nigerian firms.

This study investigates the influence of the board chairman's involvement in the audit committee (AC) (as a proxy of AC independence) on earnings management (EM) practices. We examine Bursa Malaysia listed firms with slight positive earnings for the years 2013 to 2015. Using ordinary least squares regression and the Modified Jones Model by Kasznik as a measure of accruals, this study reveals that an AC that includes its board chairman is associated with greater discretionary accruals and EM. Further, we categorise a board chairman's involvement in an AC into two types: a board chairman who also serves as the AC chairman (hereafter termed board chairman duality) and a board chairman who sits in the AC as an ordinary member. We find that board chairman duality does not influence EM. However, ACs whose members include the board chairman are associated with EM practices. This study supports agency theory and the initiatives taken by policy-makers to deter board chairmen from serving on ACs. It also alerts policy-makers, firms and their stakeholders, as well as researchers to the importance of having an AC free from the involvement of its board chairman as this will enhance the committee's effectiveness in curbing EM.

Purpose-The current study dealt with the ownership structure effect as a potential determinant of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance disclosure in the Jordanian context. Design/methodology/approach-Using the content analysis technique, data were collected and analyzed from a final sample of 51 annual reports of Jordanian industrial companies listed for 2012-2019. Findings-The results show that foreign ownership and state ownership play a critical role in disclosing the ESG performance. Also, the board's independence plays an influential role in improving disclosure quality, enhancing family ownership in disclosure. It also limits the negative role of block holder ownership and managerial ownership on the ESG disclosure. Originality/value-To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that deals with the role of ownership structure on the ESG disclosure level separately and collectively through the moderating role of board independence.

In September 2011, the European Union Commissioner Michel Barnier explained that there are weaknesses in the way the audit sector works today and the crisis highlighted them . Such weaknesses were not detected for the fi rst time: a few years earlier the problems of the audit sector emerged when Enron collapsed and the chicanery of its auditor Arthur Andersen was revealed to the markets. Since then, auditors and audit fi rms, namely, the Big Four have been subject to the long standing debates not only in the academic world but also in a number of European laws and regulations. This article examines the role of auditors in the global fi nancial crisis of 2008 and whether they actually failed in their role.

The general objective of the study is to find out the determinants of the profitability of insurance firms in Ghana. Secondary data on financial reports were collected from sixteen insurance firms in Ghana for the period 2005 to 2010.The study was quantitative in nature. It adopted the longitudinal time dimension, specifically, the panel method and ordinary least square regression. The study discovered that, apart from tangibility which has a negative relationship, there is a positive relationship between leverage, liquidity and profitability of insurance firms in Ghana. It was also concluded that, the profitability model adopted has been explained in respect to all the independent variables and that the degree of error is less than 20%. Finally, it is suggested that the explanatory variables used in this study should be regressed on Return on Equity to find their extent of relationship on profitability. Keywords: Determinants, Profitability (Return on Assets), leverage, liquidity and Tangibility.

An important normative theory in economics is that all markets are perfect-perfect in the sense that "prices" in a market should be set by balancing "demand" against "supply". Certainly, this is a desirable theory, by reducing government interference in pricing in a market to leave economic interactions as principal forces-particularly so in financial markets. But in reality, this desirable theory does not do away with government regulation, because markets can be corrupted or misused (and this has sometimes been called "market imperfections"). Empirically in economic history, money has sometimes been made by economic agents in a market through using corruption or misuse of market forces. Thus, as an empirical reality in economic systems, the need for regulation always exists. This research analyzes an actual case of market corruption on an international scale, the Wirecard scandal. We analyze this empirical case to expand regulatory theory by investigating the kind of roles needed to be played by some market forces (e.g. government regulators, corporate auditors, and financial reporters) in order for "imperfections" of financial markets to be avoided or corrected.

I study the implications of economic shocks for objective and subjective CEO performance evaluation. A shock perturbs pay-setting parties' information about the firm and the CEO. I argue that pay-setting parties then lack information they need for evaluating the CEO objectively, and de-emphasize objective CEO performance evaluation in favor of subjective CEO performance evaluation; over time, pay-setting parties become better informed about the firm as well as the CEO, and increasingly use again objective CEO performance evaluation. My evidence, which uses data on objective and subjective CEO performance evaluation in US executive pay between 1992 and 2013, is consistent with my argument.

Design of contracts that define firm, and their accounting systems depend on the conditions in the firm's factor and product markets. We examine the fundamental difficulty of defining and developing "uniform" accounting for diverse economic environments across countries and compare the differences in conditions prevailing in some key markets in Japan and the United States. There are important differences in industrial organization, accounting entities, markets for capital, managers, and labor, employee risk bearing, role of government, and market for corporate control. It would be difficult to defend the current reporting practices in either country to be optimal relative to the current or anticipated future market conditions. Instead of making premature commitment to a single set of worldwide standards, there may be value to allowing alternative sets of standards to compete in the marketplace (Dye and Sunder, Accounting Horizons, 2001).

Abstract
The purpose of the study was to find out the trends of Net Interest Margin (NIM) and Return on Assets (ROA).
It also sought to find out the relationship between the NIM and the ROA of the listed banks in Ghana,
considering the period 2005-2011. Seven out of the nine listed banks were considered for the study. The main
sources of data were from the annual reports of the selected listed banks, as well as other relevant scholarly
journals. Trend analysis was used to find the trend of NIM and ROA of the listed banks. Regression and
correlation analyses were used to find the relationship and the strength thereof between NIM and the ROA. The
dependent variable was Profitability (ROA); while the independent variable was Net Interest Margin (NIM). The
study revealed that there is a strong positive correlation between the NIM and the ROA (Profitability) of the
listed banks. The regression equation between NIM (X - Axis) and ROA (Y - Axis) is Y = 0.577X – 1.427. The
correlation co-efficient, R2 is 0.826. This means that 82.6% of ROA is explained by the NIM. When Net Interest
Margin decreases, Return on Assets (Profitability) decreases; and vice versa.
Keywords: Net interest margin, return on assets, profitability, relationship, regression, correlation

This paper reviews the empirical and theoretical literature on the field of corporate governance and internal audit in banking sector and other industries, presenting selected research from 1998 up to 2017. The review has two contributions. The first aim is to examine how research on areas of corporate governance has evolved during these years (before and after the crisis period), by providing a comprehensive understanding of the existing research and the second, is to assess whether the research interest on these areas diverges due to trigger events i.e. Sarbanes–Oxley act of 2002, credit crisis of 2008 etc, detecting additional issues that could fill research gaps in the future.

This research examines the effect of ownership structure and good corporate governance on firm performance. The research variables used were foreign ownership, institutional ownership, government ownership, size of the board of commissioners, and size of non-financial sector companies on the Indonesia Stock Exchange throughout 2013-2017. This study deployed a quantitative approach through multiple linear regression analysis, with a total sample of 1,650 observations. The research findings were foreign ownership, government ownership; board commissioner size had a significant positive effect on firm performance while institutional ownership and firm size had a significant negative effect on firm performance.

Corporate governance mechanism is a chain mechanism that direct and control a company with the purpose of the company's operations in line with the stakeholders' interest. Audit committee is an essential pillar of corporate governance in establishing integrity and quality financial reporting. The research aimed to testify the impact of audit committee toward financial reporting's quality in non-financial issuers listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange. The findings of the research indicated that the audit committee had significant impact on financial reporting's quality:

The primary purpose of this research is to examine the effect of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) on the profitability of universal banks in Ghana. The study is focused on the effect of non-performing loans on return on assets and return on equity of universal banks in Ghana. The study uses quarterly time series data collected by Bank of Ghana on all universal banks operating in the banking sector for the period 2007-2018. The multiple regression technique is used to analyse the models developed. The study reveals that non-performing loans have a significant negative effect on return on equity of universal banks in Ghana. The study also reveals a significant negative relationship between non-performing loans ratio and return on asset. The study recommends an improvement in the profitability of universal banks by reducing non-performing loans in individual banks. Universal banks must improve their loan monitoring strategies and manage their loan risk exposure to customers. The study recommends an improvement of the regulatory system of the central bank. Appropriate guidelines must be instituted by the central bank to prevent universal banks from advancing loans to customers with high credit risk.

This paper deals with the corporate disclosure and therefore the option to predict the corporate disclosure through combining financial and non-financial information. In this paper, we study the corporate disclosure characteristics by investigating the predictability strength of specific financial performance indicators and corporate social responsiblity (CSR) related information. The sample of this research contains 58 organizations that had been awarded the label of the CSR in Morocco. A content analysis of corporate websites, financial statements and annual reports are used for each organization. Based on corporate disclosure content, two groups are constructed. We use four financial indicators for measuring the performance (financial information) and particular CSR related information (non-financial information) for these two groups. The discriminant analysis highlights to what extend specific information could predict the nature corporate disclosure content. As results, these indicators and information show different levels of ability to predict corporate disclosure content. Our findings, when confronted to the literature, explicit convergences about the predictability of corporate disclosure content.

This paper explores how directors of New Zealand institutional investor entities perceive the role of audit committees in their investee firms. We find that perceptions of audit committee mechanisms by directors of New Zealand institutional investor entities are distinct in terms of: (1) the directors' knowledge of audit committee mechanisms; (2) directors' evaluation of the governance role of audit committees; and (3) whether and how audit committees in investee firms affect the investment decisions of institutional investors. We argue that the identities of directors and contextualising events may have contributed to the discrete views taken by the directors of New Zealand institutional investor entities. We use institutional theory and discourse analysis to design and analyse the interviews. Our paper presents evidence from New Zealand, where the adoption of audit committees has been largely driven by regulatory changes overseas. Findings from this paper may be of interest to regulators, researchers and practitioners to make informed comparisons with observations from other countries in examining the function of audit committees and in evaluating the implications of corporate governance regulatory changes. Regulators and other corporate governance stakeholders may benefit from this paper by reflecting on the reciprocal influence between an audit committee and the institutionalisation of governance practices.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of tax aggressiveness on market reactions with the independent board of commissioners as moderating variables. High and low market reactions can be influenced by tax aggressiveness. This study aims to determine the effect of tax aggressiveness on market reactions and to find out whether the independent board of commissioners can weaken or strengthen the relation of tax aggressiveness to market reactions. This study uses observation methods in non-financial companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the period 2015-2017. The population in this study amounted to 559 companies. The sample selection uses a purposive sampling technique so that a total sample of 125 companies was obtained. The moderated regression analysis (MRA) test is used in this study. The results of this study indicate that tax aggressiveness has a negative and significant effect on market reaction. The independent board of commissioners strengthens the relation of tax aggressiveness to market reactions.

The current study investigates the failure of the global leaders to unite against the COVID-19 pandemic and how this represents a lack of accountability on the global level. Using the desk research method, the authors draw upon secondary data (e.g., published reports, previous studies, social media, and websites) to gain a broad understanding of the dynamics of global leadership that shapes the global accountability processes during the pandemic time. The authors suggest that accountability at the global level (i.e., the accountability relationship between global health institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and different countries) can better be understood as a geopolitical phenomenon that contains many sociopolitical and demographic factors that relate accountability to leadership and cooperation. This study has implications for researchers, shareholders, and policymakers by enhancing their understanding of the global accountability process during crisis time.

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of SRI index on abnormal return of added to and deleted stocks of two countries, Indonesia (SRI-KEHATI) and Malaysia (FTSE4GBM). The effect was examined using CAAR of the stock around index announcement. This research was conducted using event study methodology. The samples used in this research are all the stocks that were added to and deleted from SRI-KEHATI index on 2009-2018 announcements and FTSE4GBM index on 2014-2018 announcements. The result of hypothesis test shows that SRI index announcement has negative significant effect to the added stocks to SRI-KEHATI's CAAR before announcement, after announcement and cumulative periods, to added stocks to FTSE4GBM's before announcement and cumulative periods, and to deleted stocks from FTSE4GBM's after announcement and cumulative periods. SRI index announcements has positive significant effect to the deleted stocks from SRI-KEHATI's CAAR before announcement. Information on SRI index announcements has effects to the decisions made by investors. Indonesian investors reacted negatively toward added stocks but not choosing deleted stock either after announcements. Malaysian investors reacted negatively toward both added and deleted stocks, added stocks are perceived better even if positive CAAR are insignificant after announcements.

This study aims to examine the relationship between the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance on social responsibility accounting disclosure (SRAD) in Jordanian companies listed in the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The questionnaire and annual reports were both employed to collect the information from 104 companies in financial, services, and industrial sectors. SmartPLS3 was used to analyse the data. This study found that there is a relationship between the principle of the role of stakeholders, the principle of the rights of shareholders and key ownership functions and social responsibility accounting disclosure at p-value 0.029* and 0.022* (one tail) respectively. While there isn’t a relationship between the other principles with social responsibility accounting disclosure. Therefore, it is recommended that Jordanian government should formulate a policy which will further encourage the listed companies toward social activities and their disclosure. The findings will no doubt be useful to the Jordanian policy makers, the board of directors, and other stakeholders in both ASE listed and unlisted companies.

The «corporate governance» term has different variations. One of such notions of the corporate governance as a system under which business corporations are managed and controlled. This term describes procedures, customs, policies, laws and institutions that govern the corporation.

We are convinces that the corporate governance is a form of organization of activity of a corporation through the orderly influence
of the subjects of such governance, its interactions at microeconomic processes, which ensure its optimal socio-economic existence in the macroeconomic environment.

The concept of the term «corporate governance» indicates the necessity to define it by categories not only of legal science.

The legal aspect of an issue of corporate governance is caused by two factors:

1. Ensuring the judicial personality of the corporation, which provides the implementation of its proper management;

2. The prudence of corporate conflict among corporate affiliates.

The corporate governance exercising is achieved by the activity of the corporation management entities, which ensure a correspondent organizational influence. Despite the polyvariety of entities, who are involved in the activity of the corporation and somehow influence on its management, the corporation management entity is one who has direct influence on management governance decision-making and its realization. Therefore, the category of corporate governance personality is revealed through a feature of connectivity in decision-making of the corporation’s activity. Such an entity is a responsible authority of corporate governance.  Due to a vivid activity of these entities, the functioning of the legal entity is ensured, as a participant of civil relations, its legal personality.

We may see from the above that the formula of corporate governance consists in the fact that the entity of the corporate
governance is a person who ensures its legal personality.

Due to the differentiated nature of the corporate governance, the multidimensional nature of the corporation’s realization directions of the legal personality, its governance is concentrated within the polyvariative limits. Because of the disbalance of the law enforcement and the level of general competence, the concentration of management leverages of governance within the limits of one subject inevitably influences the efficiency of taking and realization of management decisions.

Thus the subject’s activity of the corporate governance has a variable nature and competence component, which is the differentiation of the subjects of governance in relation to the area of its competence. This way the relevant bodies realize the legal personality of the corporation. Their systematization requires the construction of the coordination model between them.

The first (basic) level of the construction is the governing body, which is formed by a participant (founder) of the corporation and is a legal means of self-organization of collective interest. 

The second level is the creation and functioning of the authority of implementation of the decisions of the corporate governance, taken by the superior body.

A combinatorial set of elements of second level of the corporate governance, definition of the configuration of its relations according to the superior corporate governance body, creates a relevant model of the corporate governance. This model is an explication of the practical form of the corporate governance.

The formula of efficiency of the corporate governance is precisely in the unity of the diversity of interests of persons. The clear identification of interest of a separate group of persons and its representation in the process of governance of the corporation is a form of prevention of abusive use of the construction of a legal entity in the interests of another group of persons who have relation to the management of a legal entity. A social compromise is achieved throughout the mentioned way and due to a mutual balance of interests. At the microsocial level its realization is ensured by the functioning of management bodies of the corporation, formation of the structure of such bodies, interaction of the subjects of the corporate governance between each other.

Using a sample of Indonesian agricultural and mining companies, this study aims to provide empirical evidence to prove the effects of auditor type, the board size, and audit committee on intellectual capital disclosure (ICD). The sample consisted of 18 agricultural and 28 mining companies, which were chosen using the content analysis method. The five-year observation period lasted from 2013 to 2017, resulting in 230 units of analysis. Data analysis employed a panel regression model with panel data testing. The study finds a positive impact of auditor type and audit committee on ICD as well as a negative influence of board size on ICD. The results conform to existing stakeholder and legitimacy theories.

The objective of the study is to measure the impact of the commitment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in its various forms on the financial performance (FP). Thus, on the basis of a questionnaire theoretically constructed and administered to 327 managers operating in four business sectors, we have developed two measures of the global commitment and commitment by nature of CSR action (scope and intensity of: altruistic CSR, integrated CSR, innovative CSR). Multiple regressions are implemented to assess the nature of the relationship between financial performance and each of the responsible actions. The Examination of the impact of the CSR commitment on financial performance partially approved the social impact hypothesis stipulating a positive association between FP and responsible commitment, only the positive effect of altruistic CSR is demonstrated. Moreover, for the integrated and innovative actions, the weak implication in these actions compared to the altruistic actions could explain the absence of significant link. But this result is also important since it marks the absence of a negative effect. Regarding the predominance of the strategic approach over the altruistic approach, this assumption is only true for companies operating in the chemistry sector.

This is an exploratory study designed to investigate the extant and nature of corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) in corporate annual reports (CAR) of listed companies in Bangladesh. Specifically, the report examines the relationship between corporate attributes and firm-specific factors and corporate social responsibility disclosures. Data are taken from annual reports of 2007 of the listed companies of Dhaka Stock Exchanges. The study uses ordinary least squares regression model to examine the relationship between explanatory variables and corporate social responsibility disclosure and un-weighted relative disclosure index to measure voluntary disclosure. The extent of CSRD level is measured using 39 items of information. The result shows a positive association between proportion of Independent Directors (INDs) and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD). But, size of the firm does not affect the level of corporate social responsibility disclosure. Control variables suggest that Board Leadership Structure (BLS), Board Audit Committee (BAC) and Percentage Return on Equity (PROE) are positively associated with company " s corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). The result shows that a higher proportion of independent non-executive directors on a board is positively related to the level of corporate social responsibility disclosure but the extent of corporate social responsibility disclosure is negatively related for firm " s size.

The present paper addresses the case study of a financial institution, the Kendallville Bank, developed by The Anti-Fraud Collaboration. The constituents of the Collaboration are the Center for Audit Quality, Financial Executives International, the National Association of Corporate Directors, and The Institute of Internal Auditors. These organisations are concerned with financial reporting fraud deterrence and detection. The case study approaches financial reporting fraud at a multidimensional level. It explores the corporate governance arrangements and management control instruments at place at the Kendallville Bank. The findings are discussed against the theoretical framework of the Agency Theory and the Stewardship Theory. Shortcomings of the arrangements are identified and safeguards are recommended on the background of international corporate governance best practice and academic literature. The risks arising from corporate governance weaknesses are addressed through various risk control procedures. Culture control is
acknowledged as a major instrument to improve effectiveness and performance of the bank through a shift in the interpersonal interaction of the Board members, the executive team and the auditors.

Menée dans le contexte français, cette étude analyse la perception de l’utilité du rapport d’audit et l’intérêt qui lui est porté par un échantillon de professionnels.
Le rapport d’audit est une thématique qui fait l’objet de plusieurs projets internationaux cherchant à le réviser pour mieux répondre aux attentes des utilisateurs.
En France, ce document a été significativement refondu grâce aux réformes qu’il a subies, dont la plus récente, concerne la création d’un paragraphe relatif à la justification des appréciations.
A partir de ces constats nous avons mené une étude empirique qualitative au cours de laquelle nous avons conduit 69 entretiens semi-directifs auprès de deux échantillons d’utilisateurs dans le contexte français.
Les résultats de cette enquête permettent de comprendre la faible attractivité du rapport d’audit qui ne satisfait pas les utilisateurs et se trouve en dessous de leurs attentes. La perception de l’utilité et de l’utilisation de ce rapport dépendent de certains facteurs, tels que le profil de l’utilisateur interrogé, la nature de l’opinion émise et le contenu informationnel identifié.

The purpose of the study was to describe the relationship between the percentage share of industry deposits taken
by a bank and the percentage share of industry loans and advances given by such bank, using 2012 fiscal year as
a reference point. The study made use of cross-sectional analysis. The population of this study was made up of
all commercial banks operating in Ghana. They are twenty-six (26) in number. However, a sample size of
twenty-four (24) of these banks was used for the study. Data was mainly collected from secondary sources
including financial reports of the selected banks, scholarly journals, business and financial newspapers, corporate
journals, and report of 2013 Ghana Banking Survey. Descriptive, inferential and exploratory data analyses were
performed. The study revealed that there is a strong positive correlation between the percentage share of industry
deposits and the percentage share of industry loans and advances. The regression model which establishes the
relationship between percentage share of industry deposits and lending is given as Y = 0.423+ 0.899X, where Y
is the percentage share of industry lending and X being the percentage share of industry deposits. The coefficient
of determination (R-sq) is 85.6%. The study therefore confirms the findings by Olokoyo (2011) that commercial
banks deposits have the greatest impacts on their lending.
Keywords: Banks, Industry, deposits, loans and advances, relationship, percentage share