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This article attempts to investigate the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on the earnings management (EM) for listed Tunisian companies.

The study focuses on both accrual-based and real EM (REM) practices. With panel data, the authors employ the multiple regression approach and the generalized least squares (GLS) estimate method. The sample is made up of 41 listed companies observed from the first half of 2016 to the second half of 2020.

This study finds that, during the pandemic period, Tunisian firms use decreasing income discretionary accruals. Also, with regard to REM, the COVID-19 variable displays a negative response coefficient but of lesser magnitude.

This study's findings can help Tunisian authorities, listed companies and market investors to better understand EM practices during a negative shock and to better understand the various internal and external factors influencing the quality of financial reporting. These findings may contribute, also, significant EM implications for scholars interested in other emerging markets. As limitations, the authors point out mainly to the small sample size used in this study and that the authors used a single model, namely the modified Jones model (1995), to measure the accounting EM. Also, the authors used a binary variable as a proxy for the COVID- 19 pandemic.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, it is the first in Tunisia, if not in Africa, to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on EM practices. Second, this study builds on previous work by examining both the accrual-based EM and the REM.

This paper aims to describe a new method for constructing the FintTech Index that measures the development of FinTech in the conventional and Islamic banking sectors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It also tests the effect of this new proxy on the performance of conventional and Islamic banks in MENA countries.

Using data from Islamic and conventional banks in the MENA region between 2010 and 2020, the authors rely on Text Mining Technology with the help of AntConc, principal component and factor analysis. The study also uses the simultaneous equation model to test the interdependent relationship between FinTech and bank performance.

The study argues that the proposed measure effectively represents the FinTech industry in the MENA financial markets. The results provide micro evidence on the application of FinTech innovation in Islamic and conventional banks to improve their performance, profitability, stability and efficiency. Furthermore, the findings can provide insights for practitioners and researchers interested in implementing FinTech collaboration to enhance the performance of Islamic and conventional banks in the MENA region.

Investors can leverage this FinTech Index in portfolio investments, trading strategy and hedging in MENA countries. In addition, policymakers can benefit from the challenges outlined in this work to support the development and incubation of FinTech in conventional and Islamic banks. Thus, they can better recognize the new generation of banking services with which they need to deal and collaborate.

This paper makes a methodological contribution to the literature on FinTech search patterns by combining factor analysis with corpus processing software. This is the most comprehensive global FinTech index. In addition, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the simultaneous relationship between the FinTech index and the performance of Islamic and conventional banks.

The global energy market has been facing lower prices of crude oil in recent years. Lower fuel price leads to lower transport cost and cheaper agricultural inputs (such as pesticides and chemical fertilizer), resulting in lower prices of agricultural commodities in the international markets. On the other hand, lower global oil price reduces the oil revenues of oil exporting countries, resulting in a decrease in government expenditures. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of lower global oil and agricultural commodity prices and government expenditure on the entire economy and poverty level of Malaysia.

This study used a computable general equilibrium model (CGE) to investigate four simulation scenarios based on the latest Malaysia’s input-output table belonging to 2010. The first scenario is a 30 per cent fall in the export and import prices of agricultural commodity prices, while the second is a 50 per cent decline in the export and import prices of crude oil, and the third combines them. In the fourth scenario, government operating expenditure declines by 4 per cent because of the fall in government’s oil revenues as a result of the decline in global oil prices.

The simulation results suggest that lower international oil price decreases real gross domestic product (GDP) and investment in Malaysia and influences positively the output and employment of some agriculture sectors. However, lower agricultural commodity price increases real GDP and investment in the country and negatively influences the output, employment and exports of all agriculture sectors. The decline in government expenditures also increases the output and the employment in the economy, whereas it decreases household consumption. In conclusion, results show that the agriculture sector losses from the current decline in international agricultural commodity prices, while it benefits from lower oil and government expenditure.

The main contribution of this study is comparing the impacts of recent falls in global oil and agricultural prices on the entire economy and agriculture sector of Malaysia. Investigating the impacts of these issues on the poverty level of Malaysian households is another contribution to the study. Another contribution is analyzing the impact of a reduction in government expenditures because of the decline in global oil price on the economy and welfare of Malaysia. Therefore, this study makes a useful contribution to the small literature of the topic.