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This paper aims to examine how audit report lags and audit fees increased for firms that engage in related party transactions (RPTs) around the introduction of Auditing Standard No. 18 (AS18). AS18, which was introduced in 2014, requires following a risk-based approach and additional audit procedures in auditing RPTs and is expected to eliminate the pre-existing inadequate audit effort in auditing RPTs documented earlier by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

Using eight years of hand-collected RPT data from annual proxy statements (form DEF 14A) from the SEC EDGAR database for a sample based on S&P 1,500 firms, this paper examines the effect of AS18 on audit effort using two measures, audit fees and audit report lags. The paper conducts the analysis using both unmatched samples and entropy-balanced regression models.

This paper finds that audit report lags and audit fees do not significantly increase after AS18 for RPT firms in general. However, when this paper classifies RPTs into Business RPTs and Non-Business RPTs and finds that compared to non-RPT firms, Business RPT firms experience a significant increase in their audit report lags and audit fees after AS18. On the other hand, no such association is observed when comparing non-Business RPT firms with non-RPT firms. In addition, this paper shows that this significant association is only observable in firms with weaker corporate governance mechanisms.

The findings shed light on the role of auditing standards in enhancing audit effort over risky transactions and the role of corporate governance in moderating the relationship between auditing standards and audit effort.

This study is the first, up to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that examines whether the additional required procedures associated with AS18 will result in a significant increase in audit effort after AS18 or not.

Across the globe, cities have contemplated practical measures to handle sustainable development issues which vary from environmental, social and to economic problems. Despite this, Africa has continued to fall behind in the implementation of smart city development. Yet, one of Africa's most cherished goals is achieving sustainable human settlements to keep up with the present and future urbanisation rates. The backbone to achieving sustainable human settlements is having efficient, well-capacitated, municipal systems and committed public servants. African Governments, however, continue to have failing municipalities with corruption being rife in both small towns and cities, yet there are chances to evolve and become smarter. Blockchain technology is a novel and disruptive innovation that has the potential to empower smart cities by providing a platform for interoperability, coordination and governance among multiple smart city initiatives and actors. However, the adoption of blockchain technology also faces several challenges and barriers to its adoption and implementation in smart cities, especially in Africa, where there is lack of awareness, regulation, infrastructure and access to ICT. This chapter examines the current state, opportunities and challenges in the adoption of blockchain technology in smart city development in Africa, a continent that faces multiple urbanisation issues, such as poverty, inequality, environmental degradation and lack of infrastructure. As such, the study adopts two theories, the diffusion of innovation (DOI) and the technology–organisation–environment (TOE) framework to view the use and opportunities placed by adopting blockchain technology through municipal stakeholders and citizens to enhance smart city development.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between related party transactions (RPTs), specifically sales and purchases, and financial distress. It also explores the moderating role of various corporate governance mechanisms and audit-firm characteristics in this relationship.

This study spans the period before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and uses a logistic regression model focusing on an eight-year noncylindrical panel data set, covering a sample of Omani listed companies from 2014 to 2021.

The empirical findings reveal a contrasting relationship between RPT sales and financial distress: a significant negative relationship in the postpandemic period, and a positive relationship in the prepandemic period. Conversely, RPT purchases exhibit a consistently significant positive relationship across all periods. The presence of a Big Four audit-firm and audit delay are notable moderating variables associated with audit-firm attributes. Additionally, the board’s review of RPT transactions, size, meetings and independence are significant moderator variables pertaining to corporate governance.

This study provides empirical evidence to inform regulators of the efficiency and opportunistic aspects of RPTs in relation to financial distress. The study’s findings offer valuable guidance to managers by suggesting ways to reinforce corporate governance practices and strengthen audit mechanisms to counteract the negative consequences of RPTs.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to explore the direct relationship between both RPT sales and purchases and financial distress while also examining the moderating effect of corporate governance and audit attributes. This comprehensive approach distinguishes itself from its unique contributions to the field.

This paper aims to examine the influence of board gender diversity on corporate anti-corruption disclosure (ACD) and the role of the Sapin II Law.

The authors used panel data regressions on a sample of French listed firms from 2010–2020. Keywords-based content analysis is used to measure ACD. Additionally, the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model investigate whether the ACD levels with high and low female directors’ changes before and after the Sapin II Law.

There is a positive relationship between female directors and corporate ACD. This relation is particularly significant in firms who applies the Sapin II Law.

The authors focus solely on larger French listed companies, which may not reflect small and medium-sized businesses. Due to data limitations, the authors could not include demographic factors like age, education and experience that could influence company behavior. Furthermore, self-reported data may not adequately reveal illicit practices within these companies.

The relationship between board gender diversity and corruption disclosure informs policymakers on reforms for female directors. The findings also aid investors and suggest that managers should view gender diversity as a governance tool to reduce corruption.

This paper is original in focusing on ACD and using a DID methodology to assess the impact of the Sapin II Law. It uniquely investigates threshold effects between board gender diversity and ACD and examines the French context, including the Copé-Zimmermann Law’s gender diversity mandate.

This study aims to assess the impact of the introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the informational relevance of accounting figures for Moroccan companies listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange. Specifically, it seeks to determine whether IFRS adoption improves the ability of accounting data to reflect share price movements.

The empirical analysis covers a sample of 27 Moroccan listed companies over a six-year period (2015–2020), with a total of 162 observations. The study tests various hypotheses through association studies to evaluate the effectiveness of accounting figures in reflecting share prices in the pre-IFRS and post-IFRS periods. The analysis utilizes Ohlson's (1995) price model, which is widely used in the literature for such assessments.

The results show that both earnings and shareholders’ equity are more effective in explaining share price variations in the post-IFRS period than in the pre-IFRS period. In particular, equity demonstrates greater explanatory power than earnings. The combined explanatory power of equity and earnings is significantly stronger in the post-IFRS period, suggesting that the adoption of IFRS has played a key role in enhancing the quality of financial information disclosed in the Moroccan market.

Theoretical implications – this study highlights that the adoption of IFRS reduces information asymmetry, thereby mitigating conflicts of interest and agency costs. By aligning accounting practices with international standards, IFRS enhance transparency and governance, fostering a more reliable business environment. Practical implications – the study indicates that IFRS adoption improves the transparency, reliability and comparability of financial information, enhancing investor confidence and making the Moroccan financial market more attractive. It provides useful guidance for regulators, businesses and countries considering IFRS implementation, demonstrating the importance of these standards in boosting market transparency and attracting global investments.

This study explores the impact of IFRS adoption on the relevance of financial information in Morocco, a topic that has been underexplored in emerging economies. It fills a gap in the literature by providing insights into IFRS adoption in a specific context, thus contributing to the ongoing debate on their effectiveness in developing economies.

As a result of COVID-19 outbreak, the rapid digital transformation has drastically changed the way we work as individuals as well as the organisations. Our constant engagement online has become a natural phenomenon. Whenever we go online, we leave a trail of digital data behind us either actively or passively. For a common customer, employee or even an employer, issues regarding data protection and data security are challenging. For instance, who owns the Digital Footprint Data? Do the employees have the skills to protect customers' data online? How are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) handling the ethical issues around digital footprints? These are some primary questions SMEs are currently facing in the transition of digital transformation. These questions have profound ethical implications for SMEs' digital footprints during the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond, which have been explored further in this study.

There is a dearth of research that investigates the impact of national culture on budgeting and management indexes in the public sector across developing countries. Limited studies in accounting and management have explained the role of national culture in shaping organisational and individual values. It is posited that national cultural variables impact budget transparency and performance management. This study contributes to the literature by examining these relations in 16 developing countries.

Adopting an unbalanced timing framework, the current paper seeks to fulfill this gap and applies four cultural dimensions from the GLOBE study (House et al., 2004) as explanatory variables to investigate whether national culture is associated with budget transparency and performance management or not, particularly in the context of developing countries. The paper uses budget transparency as the first dependent variable, based on the OECD database from Qi and Mensah (2011), along with performance management as the second dependent variable, from the BTI Project (2016), according to the leadership's political performance management.

Generally, the empirical findings reveal a minimal relation among GLOBE cultural variables with budget transparency and performance management. Particularly, the empirical findings indicate that only performance orientation has a significant relation with budget transparency and performance management.

The findings of this paper suggest that any plan to improve a nation's budget transparency should consider the links between budgeting, performance management and the culture of those that run them.

The formal adoption of new methods by performance management may not be enough without accompanying efforts to transform performance orientation as an index of national culture.

The introduction of gender quota laws in many countries has garnered significant attention in the literature and in the political discourse. Proponents of this solution emphasise its potential to bolster opportunities for women, foster their participation on boards of directors and improve corporate governance, market value and firm performance. Conversely, opponents express concerns regarding the possibility of appointing less-qualified women, thereby diminishing board effectiveness and potentially leading to negative consequences on firm market value and performance. This study aims to address this ongoing debate by examining the impact of gender quota laws on firm performance.

The impact of gender quota laws on firm performance, measured through ROE, ROA and ROI, is evaluated using a database of 27,977 Italian firms and adopting a two-stage traditional treatment effect model.

The econometric analysis reveals a negative impact of the gender quota law on firm performance.

This study contributes to the academic debate on the pros and cons of imposing gender quota laws by providing empirical evidence on their impact on firm performance.

This study aims to examine the relationship between financial report readability (FRR) and audit fees (AF) by bringing evidence from an emerging market. In addition, it reveals the moderating influence of board gender diversity (BGD) on such a relationship.

The authors analyzed data collected manually from the financial reports of Egyptian nonfinancial firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange between 2016 and 2021 using Pooled OLS, Random effects, Fixed effects regressions.

The authors found a negative relationship between FRR and AF. Likewise, BGD is found to be negatively related to AF, and positively associated with FRR. In addition, the authors found that the negative association between FRR and AF is more pronounced in the case of BGD.

This paper contributes to previous research on the auditors’ reactions to the clarity of financial reporting as well as the role of board gender concerning the FRR-audit pricing relationship in emerging markets.

This paper aims to prepare alkyd protective paint by using modified alkyd with 3,6-dichloro benzo[b]thiophene-2-carbonyl glutamic acid (DCBTGA) as a source of dicarboxylic acid and evaluating their anticorrosive properties compared with those of unmodified alkyd coatings for steel protection.

Short, medium and long oil alkyds, which represented as (0, 10, 20 and 30% excess-OH) according to the resin constants (Patton, 1962), were prepared through a condensation polymerization reaction via a solvent process in a one-step reaction. The modification of alkyd was carried out by using DCBTGA as a source of dicarboxylic acid. The prepared modified alkyd was confirmed by IR and NMR spectral analysis. The physicochemical, mechanical and anticorrosion performance properties of the considered modified coating formulations against unmodified blank coating were studied to confirm their application efficiency.

The best results in terms of physicochemical, mechanical and anticorrosion performance properties were found according to the following of this order activity: 30 replacements of the modifier (DCBTGA) for each hydroxyl continent were 30% Ex-OH > 20% Ex-OH > 10% Ex-OH > 0% Ex-OH, compared with that formulation containing unmodified alkyd, especially with increasing the modifier percent.

The prepared DCBTGA-modified resins can be used for different applications based on the type of alkyd and application.