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The various factors influencing audit fees are still unclear, which may undermine the possibility of attaining fair audit pricing. Against this concern, this study aims to investigate the relationship between the auditee’s corporate characteristics and audit fees. In addition, it reveals if accounting comparability, as a proxy for financial reporting quality, mediates such a relationship by bringing evidence from an emerging market.

This study depends on data from nonfinancial companies listed on the Egyptian stock exchange from 2016 to 2019. It adopts multiple regression models to test the impact of corporate characteristics and accounting comparability on audit fees and uses path analysis to test the indirect effect of the audit clients’ characteristics on audit fees through accounting comparability.

The authors found a significant positive (negative) effect of firm profitability on audit fees (accounting comparability). Further, accounting comparability has a significant negative effect on audit fees. The authors also found that accounting comparability partially mediates the significant relationship between profitability and audit fees. However, the authors found no significant association between leverage and audit fees. Finally, the authors found that accounting comparability does not mediate the relationship between leverage and audit fees.

This study’s findings can benefit audit practitioners in Egypt by showing the main factors affecting audit fees, especially audit clients’ attributes. The current findings also guide professional bodies responsible for issuing accounting and audit standards regarding the importance of financial reporting quality for audit pricing decisions.

This study contributes to the literature by examining the mediating effect of accounting comparability concerning the corporate characteristics-audit fees relationship in developing African countries such as Egypt. This study’s findings can benefit audit practitioners in Egypt by showing the main factors affecting audit fees, especially audit clients’ attributes. The current findings also guide professional bodies responsible for issuing accounting and audit standards regarding the importance of financial reporting quality for audit pricing decisions.

This study aims to examine the effects of agency cost on auditor choice. This paper also deals with the moderating role of the board’s financial expertise (Bfe) and the status of the internal control (Intecon) system on the relationship between agency cost and auditor selection.

This study’s sample consists of 1,040 firm-year observations of Iranian nonfinancial companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2012 to 2019. The information required for this research is mainly extracted from Comprehensive Database of All Listed Companies (in Iran Stock Exchange). Data from 130 companies were obtained during the research period. This study used logistic regression to test the hypotheses.

The findings indicate that companies with higher agency costs choose the auditor from lower classes. As the proportion of financial expert members on the board increases, the intensity of this relationship will be reduced. Companies with higher agency costs choose the auditor from the lower classes, but the higher the ratio of financial expert board members, the more these companies will choose high-quality auditors. However, findings showed that the status of the Intecon system has no moderating effect on the relationship between agency costs and auditor selection.

The results of this study can expand the existing literature on the relationship between auditor selection and agency costs and the factors affecting this relationship, especially the Bfe and Intecon. This research has significant suggestions for regulators, stakeholders, shareholders and analysts in emerging economies that may encounter similar contextual implications.

This study assesses the impact of online grocery shopping and food delivery services on food insecurity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study uses an online survey of 1,532 respondents. Respondents’ sociodemographics, food consumption, purchasing behavior, food security status, food insecurity coping mechanisms and concerns associated with food safety were asked before and during COVID-19.

Online grocery shopping and food delivery services increase food insecurity. Moreover, households with female primary shoppers were less likely to be food insecure than households with male primary shoppers. Furthermore, households with children were more likely to be food insecure. Minority households, such as Black, Hispanic, Native American and younger households, were more likely to be food insecure.

Panel data with the same households surveyed before and after COVID-19 would be a better approach. Similarly, the impact of online shopping on food insecurity needs further research, as many factors could be associated with online shopping that impact food insecurity, especially during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, a study of the long-term impact of online shopping on food insecurity would be interesting and could present broader and more generalizable results.

The impact of online shopping on food insecurity before and during COVID-19 has yet to be studied sufficiently. Given the increase in popularity of online grocery shopping, its impact on food insecurity still needs to be discovered. Besides online grocery shopping, we also study online food delivery services whose demand has gained momentum over the past few years, including during the pandemic.

The purpose of this study is to delve into the complex interplay between earnings management (EM), the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation and the reporting lag (RL) within the specific context of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, with a particular emphasis on the Saudi context, offering insights into their influence on financial reporting practices.

Using a panel data set of 135 Saudi companies over an eight-year period, covering four years before and after the mandatory adoption of IFRS in 2017, this study investigates the Saudi financial reporting landscape. It uses interaction moderation analysis to explore variable effects and includes robustness analyses to validate the findings.

The findings reveal three key outcomes. First, they challenge conventional expectations by showing no significant impact of discretionary accruals (DACC) on RL, contrary to established accounting theories. This deviation is attributed to unique market characteristics within the GCC region, including family-owned businesses, government involvement and distinct regulations, with specific insights relevant to Saudi Arabia. Second, an unexpected positive association between IFRS adoption and RL in Saudi Arabia emerged. Several contextual factors contribute, including transition costs, compliance expenses, institutional dynamics and reconciling IFRS with local Shariah principles. Most importantly, IFRS adoption significantly reduced RL, especially for companies with high DACC levels. This highlights IFRS’s transformative role, emphasizes aligning EM with international standards for investor confidence and mitigating nonconformity risks in the GCC region’s business landscape.

The research findings carry significant practical implications for companies operating within the GCC region, accentuating the strategic imperative of timely financial reporting to bolster credibility, align with international standards and fortify investor confidence. Moreover, regulators and policymakers are urged to consider tailoring accounting regulations to accommodate the distinctive GCC context, thereby adeptly addressing the intricacies stemming from the interplay of EM, IFRS adoption and RL dynamics in the region.

This study adds to the current body of literature by highlighting the significant moderating influence of IFRS transition on the nexus between DACC and RL. It underscores the crucial role of this global accounting framework in reshaping financial reporting practices.

University students’ lecture theatre concentration levels are significantly related to indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and the self-reported concentration levels of university students during the winter at University College London (UCL), UK.

A questionnaire survey and physical measurements were used to assess the IEQ factors affecting students’ concentration levels.

The lecture theatre design factor was the most significant factor influencing students’ concentration levels, and the facility environment was more important than the thermal environment, indoor air quality, and acoustic environment in influencing students’ concentration levels in this winter investigation at UCL, UK. Additionally, students prefer a colder thermal environment. The concentration level of students was positively correlated with the indoor air quality and negatively correlated with the acoustic environment.

Based on model application, this research could provide lecture theatre IEQ design. This research additionally provides an acceptable indoor thermal environment temperature range based on a large sample, which can be used to calibrate a student performance benchmark.

As this study evaluates the IEQ factors that influence the concentration levels of university students, interior designers and engineers should consider the rational layout of these factors. Therefore, this study may provide a reference for the interior environmental design of lecture theatres in educational buildings.

The purpose of this paper is to report a study of public accountability within the political and economic structures that characterise Pacific nations. The authors examine audit quality with respect to Pacific Island nations’ governmental reporting to investigate ways to improve accountability in a region that is economically and environmentally challenged.

The authors examine whether audit quality in Pacific Island nations is associated with the practical arrangements of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs), taking into account external factors. The “practical arrangements” include the independence of a SAI (regarding its staffing and funding) and also the requirement for it to report to the Executive. The financial setting in each jurisdiction has been seen to impact the quality of financial reporting and auditing. The authors examine mediating factors such as income, political stability and education that may also impact audit quality. This study uses publicly available databases as well as jurisdictional annual reports and the associated audit opinions and management letters (where available). Jurisdictional reports on public financial management were also analysed.

The authors find that public sector audit quality is low in many Pacific countries, concluding that public accountability is impaired. While the authors recommend changes to the practical arrangements that can improve audit quality, the mediating factors also impact audit quality. They argue that a renewed focus on financial capability could enhance public accountability in these nations, but there are limiting factors that are difficult to overcome.

There are problems in providing accountability for public sector activities in Pacific nations. The authors suggest that improvements to the appointment and funding of SAIs to enhance their independence will help to reduce these issues.

The authors present a framework for analysing SAIs’ practical arrangements and audit quality that includes variables that may mediate the effects of these practical arrangements. They apply the model to 20 Pacific jurisdictions, showing that the practical arrangements of a SAI directly impact audit quality. Nevertheless, there are instances where audit quality is poor despite good practical arrangements, implying that mediating factors also play a substantial role in determining audit quality of a SAI.

This study examines the factors influencing educational aspirations among adolescents in secondary and high schools across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan (officially Kyrgyz Republic), and Tajikistan, with a focus on their aspirations for higher and postgraduate education. Through an analysis of a sample comprising 1360 students from grades 7 to 11, the research explores the likelihood of these students pursuing tertiary education.

The ordered logit regression models were used to analyze the impact of variables related to family background, including parents’ education, family support and SES, and school grade. Additionally, the Exploratory Factor Analysis was utilized to distill a smaller set of underlying factors or constructs from the measured variables.

The findings indicate that the mother's education level is significantly more influential compared to the father's education in shaping adolescents' aspirations for higher and postgraduate education in the Central Asian context. Additionally, hypotheses concerning the influence of family socioeconomic status (SES), family support, and grade-level differences on adolescents' higher educational aspirations have only been partially confirmed.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, no prior research work has indicated a significant impact of a mother's education on the educational aspirations of her offspring in the Central Asian region. This trend is consistent with the concept of educational hypogamy, wherein mothers possess higher educational levels than fathers, a phenomenon that is gaining prominence in contemporary family dynamics.

Home is a place/system/product that becomes increasingly occupied with various tasks used to be performed in workplaces. However, the knowledge of the relationship between residential physical environments and occupant experience is limited, especially when considering the effect of indoor plants (IPs) and climate zones. To address the gap, this study conducted a questionnaire survey in three cities across different regions in China.

Based on User Experience and Customer Satisfaction Index theory, following the research paradigm, a total of 627 valid samples were collected and analyzed in a stepwise statistical analysis, including descriptive statistics, reliability and validity test, correlation test and region comparison, then the model of PROCESS was adopted to examine the hypotheses that are given based on the former studies.

The results showed that residential physical environments have a significant effect on occupant satisfaction (OS) in all regions, as well as OS on occupant performance. However, regional differences were found that OS is a complete mediator in the Middle region, while a partial mediator in the North and South. A slight moderating effect of IPs was also found in the region of South. Nevertheless, both the number of plants and plant types have a significant moderating effect on the mechanism.

Besides combining two theories and confirming the mechanism in the residential physical environment, it is also the first study to consider the moderating effects of IPs and climate zones, providing potential empirical support for not only design and management stages but also facing global challenges of working at home and climate changes.

This paper aims to analyse the current state of research to identify the link between Lean Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies to map out different research themes, to uncover research gaps and propose key recommendations for future research, including lessons to be learnt from the integration of lean and I4.0.

A systematic literature review (SLR) is conducted to thematically analyse and synthesise existing literature on Lean Manufacturing–I4.0 integration. The review analysed 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

In total, five main research themes were identified, and a thematic map was created to explore the following: the relationship between Lean Manufacturing and I4.0; Lean Manufacturing and I4.0 implication on performance; Lean Manufacturing and I4.0 framework; Lean Manufacturing and I4.0 integration with other methodologies; and application of I4.0 technologies in Lean Manufacturing. Furthermore, various gaps in the literature were identified, and key recommendations for future directions were proposed.

The integration of Lean Manufacturing and I4.0 will eventually bring many benefits and offers superior and long-term competitive advantages. This research reveals the need for more analysis to thoroughly examine how this can be achieved in real life and promote operational changes that ensure enterprises run more sustainably.

The development of Lean Manufacturing and I4.0 integration is still in its infancy, with most articles in this field published in the past two years. The five main research themes identified through thematic synthesis are provided in the original contribution. This provides scholars better insight into the existing literature related to Lean Manufacturing and I4.0, further contributing to defining clear topics for future research opportunities. It also has important implications for industrialists, who can develop more profound and richer knowledge than Lean and I4.0, which would, in turn, help them develop more effective deployment strategies and have a positive commercial impact.