This study aims to examine the combined impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings on the market and financial performance of Egyptian companies during the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the combined impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings on the market and financial performance of Egyptian companies during the period from 2007 to 2016 and, thereby, determines the influence of the recent political revolutions –that broke out in the MENA region in early 2011 – on the association between ESG practices and corporate performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The present work uses data from the S&P/EGX ESG index, which is the first of its kind in the MENA region. The ESG index is designed to increase the profile of companies listed on the Egyptian Exchange and is expected to boost the level and quality of ESG practices in the Egyptian context. The sample includes the 100 most active Egyptian companies in the Egyptian Stock Exchange as measured by the EGX 100 index in the financial year that ended in 2016. The sample begins in 2007, concurrent with the start of the ESG index, and ends in 2016. The period from 2007 to 2010 represents the pre-revolution period, and the period from 2012 to 2016 is the post-revolution period.
Findings
Firms with high ESG ratings are found to enjoy a better financial and market performance. The authors found some evidence that the influence of ESG ratings on financial performance is more obvious after the revolutions than before the revolutions.
Practical implications
This study provides insights regarding the impact of political events on the market in the Middle East region. Despite its increasing economic and political importance, this region still suffers from inadequate attention in the literature. The present work investigates the variances that evolved out of the events that started in early 2011 and the implications of these events on the market. The results of this study have implications for regulators and investors in the Egyptian stock market. The authors believe that the relatively new S&P/EGX ESG index provides a way to enhance ESG ratings in Egypt.
Social implications
The results of the present study provide insights for policymakers regarding the usefulness of the sustainability indices.
Originality/value
The present results contribute to the growing literature on the economic consequences of ESG ratings, especially in relation to a context characterized by intense political/revolutionary changes. In particular, this study contributes to the few works that have addressed the economic implications of ESG ratings in emerging markets.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices disclosure and firm value in the Egyptian context. This is done through…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices disclosure and firm value in the Egyptian context. This is done through investigating the influence of being listed and ranked in the Egyptian Corporate Responsibility Index on firm value during the period starting from 2007 to 2016.
Design/methodology/approach
Using univariate and multivariate analyses, the findings support the economic benefits of ESG disclosures.
Findings
The authors find that firms listed in the ESG index have higher firm value, and that there is a positive association between firms’ higher rankings in the index and firm value, as measured by Tobin’s q.
Research limitations/implications
The findings provide feedback to regulators and standard-setters in the developing countries, and more specifically the Egyptian regulators, on the benefits associated with the introduction of the sustainability index (Standard & Poor’s (S&P)/EGX ESG index). This, in turn, clarifies how the government’s efforts to promote ESG provide benefits to publicly traded firms.
Practical implications
By linking ESG to firm value, the ESG index will enable investors to take a leading role in inducing firms to enhance transparency and disclosure, and hence, improving their reporting standards. This, in turn, will ultimately result in improving sustainability and governance practices in Egypt.
Social implications
The reported positive market reactions to social and governance practices disclosures can motivate firms to improve their social and governance performance.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature by addressing the combined economic effects of social and governance disclosures on firm value, and by investigating the economic effects of such disclosures on firm value in an emerging market.
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Jie Zhang and Ahmed Aboud
The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of the EVA performance evaluation model for the Chinese banking industry. The authors investigate the impact of six…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of the EVA performance evaluation model for the Chinese banking industry. The authors investigate the impact of six bank-specific factors and corporate governance factors on financial performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use the ordinary least square regression to examine the determinants of the EVA performance evaluation model for the Chinese banking industry. The findings are generally robust to alternative proxies of performance.
Findings
The empirical results indicate that credit risk, operational efficiency and the degree of innovation are positively related to banks’ EVA while capital management has a negative impact on it. In addition, although board size and independent directors are not related to the bank’s EVA, from the perspective of the traditional performance evaluation indicators, executive compensation has a positive impact on the bank’s profitability.
Research limitations/implications
This paper has some limitations. First, due to the large number of adjustments to accounting items are required in the application of EVA when evaluating business performance, some items of the EVA model in this paper have been simplified, which may cause the bank’s EVA value to deviate slightly from the actual situation. Moreover, the sample includes only listed banks, so our results cannot generalize to non-listed banks, such as some small- and medium-sized commercial banks.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the limited body of literature concerning the use and the determinants of EVA in emerging markets. The authors construct an EVA model which is suitable for China’s banks and reports comprehensive evidence on the drivers of EVA as a measurement tool.
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Ahmed Aboud and Barry Robinson
This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of fraud prevention and detection techniques, including data analytics, machine learning and data mining, and to understand how…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of fraud prevention and detection techniques, including data analytics, machine learning and data mining, and to understand how widespread the use of data analytics is across different sectors and to identify and understand the potential barriers to implementing these techniques to detect and prevent fraud.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to 73 Irish businesses to determine to what extent traditional approach, data mining or text mining are being used to prevent or detect fraudulent financial reporting, and to determine the perception level of their effectiveness.
Findings
The study suggests that whilst data analytics is widely used by businesses in Ireland there is an under-utilisation of data analytics as an effective tool in the fight against fraud. The study suggests there are barriers that may be preventing companies from implementing advanced data analytics to detect financial statement fraud and identifies how those barriers may be overcome.
Originality/value
In contrast to the majority of literature on big data analytics and auditing, which lacks empirical insight into the diffusion, effectiveness and obstacles of data analytics, this explanatory study contributes by providing useful insights from the field on big data analytics. While the extant auditing literature generally addresses the avenues of big data utilisation in auditing domain, our study explores particularly the use big data analytics as a fraud prevention and detection techniques.
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This study explores the relationship between institutional logics and workers’ agency in business organisations. The purpose of this paper is to explain management control in a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the relationship between institutional logics and workers’ agency in business organisations. The purpose of this paper is to explain management control in a complex setting of workers’ resistance and institutional multiplicity and complexity. Exploring the inherent political volatility at the macro level, the work also investigates the political aspects of economic organisations and the intermediary role of individuals who deal with these institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
Theoretically, the study triangulates institutional logics and labour process theories, linking higher-order institutions with mundane labour practices observed in the case study. Methodologically, the study adopts a post-positivistic case study approach. Empirical data were solicited in a village community, where sugar beet farming and processing constitutes the main economic activity underlying its livelihood. Data were collected through a triangulation of interviews, documents and observations.
Findings
The study concludes that, especially in LDCs agro-manufacturing settings, economic and societal institutions play a central role in the mobilisation of labour resistance. Control can be effectively practiced, and be resisted, through such economic and social systems. This study affirms the influence of institutional logics on individuals’ agency and subjectivity.
Originality/value
The study contributes to literature by investigating the relationship between subalterns’ agency and institutional logics in a traditional political and communal context, in contrast to the highly investigated western contexts; and providing a definition of management control based on the prevalent institutional logics in the field.
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Ahmed Aboud, Baba Haruna and Ahmed Diab
This paper aims to examine the association between income smoothing and the cost of debt in two different countries, namely, the UK and Nigeria.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the association between income smoothing and the cost of debt in two different countries, namely, the UK and Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a sample from listed firms in the UK and Nigeria during 2000–2019. The study hypotheses are examined by implementing quantitative methods, including panel regression analysis, cross-sectional regression analysis and parametric independent samples t-test.
Findings
The results reveal that Nigerian companies have a substantially higher cost of debt and are more active in using income-smoothing practices. However, the relationship between income smoothing and the cost of debt is not found to be statistically significant in both countries. Besides, the results of this study show that financial leverage, profitability, company size and asset turnover are significantly associated with the cost of debt.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the existing literature by providing new insights concerning the contrast between developed and developing countries in financial and reporting issues.
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Ahmed A. Diab, Ahmed Aboud and Arafat Hamdy
The purpose of this study is to address the impact of the related party transactions (RPTs) on firm value. The authors bring evidence from a usually ignored empirical setting: an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to address the impact of the related party transactions (RPTs) on firm value. The authors bring evidence from a usually ignored empirical setting: an African emerging market.
Design/methodology/approach
In particular, the authors focus on companies listed on the Egyptian stock market using a sample of EGX 30 from 2012 to 2017.
Findings
Unlike the literature, the authors find no significant relationship between RPTs and market value.
Practical implications
This research provides insights for policymakers and other interested parties concerning the perception of RPTs in Egypt.
Originality/value
The reported different findings of this study assure the intermediary role of the context and the local culture in the relationship between RPTs and firm value, in contrast to the negative view that is mostly reported in the literature.
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This paper aims to examine the impact of corporate governance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, paying particular attention to modern Chinese businesses…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impact of corporate governance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, paying particular attention to modern Chinese businesses. Particularly, it examines how ownership concentration, boards of directors and boards of supervisors affect the quality of CSR performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs the regression analysis using a sample from listed companies in Shanghai and Stock Exchanges covering 2014 until 2018.
Findings
Using a sample of listed companies in Shanghai and Stock Exchanges, the empirical evidence, A-share listed companies between 2014 and 2018, this empirical investigation demonstrates that corporate governance does indeed have a significant effect on CSR. However, various types of corporate governance mechanisms have differing effects on CSR. The authors find that ownership concentration has a positive impact on CSR performance, while the size of a company’s board of supervisors has a positive impact on CSR performance. By doing so, the authors provide practical implications to users, and regulatory authorities to make better decisions
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the existing literature by examining the impact of corporate governance on a company’s abilities to meet its CSR objectives in China. Much of the empirical studies on this issue are centred on the Western world, notably Western Europe and the USA.
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Khakan Najaf, Osama Atayah and Susela Devi
The Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies (JAEE), established in 2011, aims to publish research on contemporary accounting issues in emerging economies. This study used the…
Abstract
Purpose
The Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies (JAEE), established in 2011, aims to publish research on contemporary accounting issues in emerging economies. This study used the bibliometric and scientometric approaches to provide deeper insights into the journal performance, prominent topics, author's contributions and citation structure. Content analysis was conducted to provide insights on the major themes addressed in JAEE.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyses data from the Scopus database, Google Scholar and Journal website. The total number of documents analysed are 190. This study employs VOSviewer and RStudio to conduct the analysis which is categorised into four major parts: General performance indicators, citation structure, network analysis and content analysis.
Findings
Since JAEE commenced publication in 2011 and indexed in the Scopus in 2018, it achieved a 14.47% annual growth rate in document publication. It is encouraging to note that 88.4% of published documents were cited. In terms of total publication, the top contributing country is Malaysia; the USA is the primary contributor in citations. Five key themes emerged from the content analysis namely, international standards and earnings quality; audit quality and IFRS practices in emerging economies; corporate governance; financial reporting and earnings management; corruption and accounting disclosure; and ownership structure and firm performance.
Originality/value
This study offers a comprehensive assessment to the journal stakeholders about the past and current journal performance besides future trends and perspectives. Additionally, JAEE readers can gain insight into the nature of academic contributions in JAEE from 299 authors of 273 affiliated institutions in 67 countries.
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This paper focuses on the morphological transformations of Cairo's historic cemeteries that currently form a significant part of historic Cairo designated by the UNESCO as a world…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on the morphological transformations of Cairo's historic cemeteries that currently form a significant part of historic Cairo designated by the UNESCO as a world heritage site. Cairo's historic cemetery continues to be a main burial ground for the city reflecting layers of funeral epochs. Besides offering burial grounds, Cairo's city of the dead had always hosted living functions including residential and crafts among other activities.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a historico-geographical approach, this study traces morphological transformations of the eastern necropolis of Cairo. Using analysis of archival documents, cartographic and photographic analysis of the eastern necropolis, the study detects changes on three major aspects: (1) impacts of the ever-growing urban city core; (2) transformation of the cemetery's internal urban fabric and (3) change of the size of the residential urban block inside the cemetery.
Findings
Findings highlight alarming transformations on the said aspects, threatening the historic value and the urban integrity of Cairo's eastern necropolis. This calls for rising necessities of documentation projects for Cairo's necropolis, as well as urgent necessity of strict applications of local laws of urban conservation.
Originality/value
Despite their rich urban variety, cemeteries have been rarely investigated within the scope of urban morphology. This paper is among the few works that investigate cemeteries using tools and approaches of urban morphology. It also calls for further applications of morphological investigations and wider adoption of morphological approaches for the study of historic cemeteries in order to support their preservation.