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The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of adopting artificial intelligence (AI) on the quality of corporate sustainability reporting. The role of sustainability committees, including specialist environmental, social and governance (ESG) committees, in moderating this dynamic is also examined.

Regression analysis is used to analyze the quality of ESG/sustainability disclosures of listed Chinese companies from 2015 to 2022. Robustness is ensured through fixed effects analysis, while endogeneity concerns are addressed using one-year lagged measures and the three-stage least squares (3SLS) approach. Sustainability committees are categorized based on their ESG specific focus areas, and aligned with the corresponding ESG disclosure pillars. In addition, for the governance pillar, the analysis is extended by segmenting the sample based on state ownership status. Stakeholder theory and the dynamic capability view are used to frame the analysis.

The results reveal that AI adoption enhances overall sustainability reporting quality and pillar-specific ESG disclosure quality. This positive effect is amplified by the presence of sustainability committees. Examining the heterogeneous impact of these committees revealed stronger associations between sustainability committee specialization and relevant ESG pillar disclosure quality (except for governance), suggesting that use of specialist committees can improve disclosure outcomes. Notably, within non-state-owned enterprises, governance-focused committees positively moderate the AI−disclosure relationship, highlighting a nuanced effect based on ownership structure.

The findings offer empirical support for companies to leverage AI in sustainability reporting. This study finds evidence to support the creation of sustainability committees, as a key corporate governance mechanism to drive corporate sustainability reporting. The use of specialist sustainability committees can drive improvements in disclosure quality relating to specific ESG pillars. The research indicates that disclosure over governance remains poor and will require additional regulatory effort to encourage entities to provide higher quality governance-related disclosures. In terms of ownership structure, the study found that non-state-owned enterprises are more efficient in using specialist sustainability committees to improve disclosure quality.

The findings highlight the potential of AI in supporting high-quality sustainability reporting and the strategic role of sustainability committees in this dynamic. The publication of high-quality sustainability reports is critical in meeting stakeholder demands for transparency and corporate accountability on sustainability.

The findings offer insights into AI’s role in supporting high-quality sustainability reporting. By examining the moderating effects of sustainability committees, the research goes beyond examining a general impact to exploring how corporate governance mechanisms impact this relationship. In addition, the unique data on Chinese companies highlights differences between state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises, with the latter exhibiting greater potential to leverage specialist sustainability committees for improving sustainability reporting.

This study aims to examine how banks’ credit ratings can be driven by the quality of the disclosed financial and nonfinancial information in emerging economies.

Using a sample of 1,590 bank-year observations of 29 Islamic and 77 conventional banks across 17 MENA countries from 2006 to 2020, we conducted a random-effects regression model that is supported by various methods, including 2SLS and GMM models, to overcome the potential incidence of endogeneity concerns.

We found that the quality of voluntary disclosure positively influences the credit rating of Islamic and conventional banks. Although the spread and usefulness of disclosed information are positively associated with banks’ ratings, the quantity dimension is not. Audit quality also significantly influences Islamic banks’ credit ratings compared to their traditional counterparts.

Our evidence offers practical implications for regulators and standards setters in emerging economies to develop more effective disclosure regimes to enhance the impact of the quality of banks’ voluntary disclosures on their credit ratings.

Our paper contributes to the existing literature by investigating the effect of the quality of voluntary disclosures on credit ratings along three dimensions: quantity, spread and usefulness of the information. Further, our research contributes to the international accounting literature by investigating the effect of audit quality on the credit ratings of both conventional and Islamic banks in a cross-country setting.

Given growing concerns about water scarcity, this study aims to investigate the extent and quality of corporate water management disclosures (hereafter water disclosures) in countries and jurisdictions facing extremely high water-stress levels. Contextual factors, at a macro/country, meso/stock exchange and micro/company level, influencing water disclosures, are examined.

The authors adopted an institutional perspective, integrating multi-level organizational fields, including micro/company-level, meso/stock exchange-level and macro/national-level influences while considering factors such as corporate governance (CG), regulatory stringency, cultural traits, advocacy for environmental management, environmental performance and sustainability indices. The authors use a GRI 303-based index to evaluate water disclosures of the top 100 listed companies from 12 stock-exchanges based in extremely high water-stress countries over a five-year period from 2016to 2020. While checking for robustness, the authors evaluate the impact of normative, coercive and mimetic forces on water disclosures at country, stock exchange and company levels.

Overall, water disclosure rates/extent and quality remain low with only incremental improvements observed over the five-year period. In terms of drivers, at a micro-level, the authors find that robust CG positively impacts water disclosure quality. At a meso level, regulatory stringency, environmental advocacy and the presence of a sustainability index positively influence water disclosure quality. At a macro level, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity negatively impact water disclosure quality, whereas long-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance positively impact it. Furthermore, countries characterized by robust governance and high environmental performance negatively influence disclosure quality in water sensitive industries.

The findings may prove useful to policymakers and regulators, including stock exchanges, in strengthening water disclosure requirements. Standard-setters may consider introducing more guidelines to assist reporters in improving the quality of their disclosures. Practitioners (managers and assurance providers) may use the findings to benchmark corporate reporting practices.

The research provides insights that can inform policies promoting transparency and accountability around corporate use of societies’ scarce water resources. The study advances responsible water stewardship, aligning corporate actions with global sustainability goals, particularly around water scarcity. In doing so, these findings have implications that extend beyond corporate disclosure practices, impacting broader environmental conservation and resource management efforts.

The study examines corporate water disclosure rates and qualities in extremely high water-stress countries and jurisdictions. The evaluation of these disclosures using a GRI 303-based index generates a unique dataset that is analysed from a multi-level institutional perspective (micro, meso and macro) to provide insights into the factors influencing corporate water disclosure practices.

This paper investigates whether disclosure quality and a history of overpaying for acquisitions are associated with differences in the value-relevance of gains on bargain purchase with high disclosure prominence.

Findings are from multivariate regression results, using a sample of firms listed in South Africa from 2010 to 2019, where a mandatory earnings reconciliation provides high disclosure prominence for gains on bargain purchase.

Given high disclosure prominence, disclosure quality is not associated with differences in the pricing of gains on bargain purchase. Instead, most gains on bargain purchase are priced as future losses (unrecognised liabilities). However, when a firm has a history of overpaying for acquisitions, gains on bargain purchase are priced as transitory economic gains.

Further research is required to determine if overpaying for acquisitions similarly communicates the credibility of gains on bargain purchase when disclosure prominence is low.

Disclosure prominence can reduce disclosure processing costs and increase the value-relevance of complex acquisition accounting. High disclosure quality cannot compensate for a weak acquisition track record.

Findings deepen our understanding of the pricing of gains on bargain purchase. This paper presents empirical results that reconcile previously conflicting theoretical views of gains on bargain purchase (as unrecognised assets or as unrecognised liabilities), by shedding light on the role that a record of overpaying for acquisitions plays in the value-relevance of gains on bargain purchase.

The study aims at reviewing a synthesis of disclosure, transparency, and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation in an attempt to provide directions for future research. Prior research overwhelmingly supports that the IFRS adoption or effective implementation of IFRS will enhance high-quality financial reporting, transparency, enhance the country’s investment environment, and foreign direct investment (FDI) (Dayanandan, Donker, Ivanof, & Karahan, 2016; Gláserová, 2013; Muniandy & Ali, 2012). However, some researchers provide conflicting evidence that developing countries implementing IFRS are probably not going to encounter higher FDI inflows (Gheorghe, 2009; Lasmin, 2012). It has also been argued that the IFRS adoption decreases the management earnings in countries with high levels of financial disclosure. In general, the study indicates that the adoption of IFRS has improved the financial reporting quality. The common law countries have strong rules to protect investors, strict legal enforcement, and high levels of transparency of financial information. From the extensive structured review of literature using the Scopus database tool, the study reviewed 105 articles, and in particular, the topic-related 94 articles were analysed. All 94 articles were retrieved from a range of 59 journals. Most of the articles (77 of 94) were published 2010–2018. The top five journals based on the citations are Journal of Accounting Research (187 citations), Abacus (125 citations), European Accounting Review (107 citations), Journal of Accounting and Economics (78 citations), and Accounting and Business Research (66 citations). The most-cited authors are Daske, Hail, Leuz, and Verdi (2013); Daske and Gebhardt (2006); and Brüggemann, Hitz, and Sellhorn (2013). Surprisingly, 65 of 94 articles did not utilise the theory. In particular, four theories have been used frequently: agency theory (15), economic theory (5), signalling theory (2), and accounting theory (2). The study calls for future research on the theoretical implications and policy-related research on disclosure and transparency which may inform the local and international standard setters.

Studies in corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure were initially focused more on disclosure “Quantity” than “Quality” and while they have started to explore “Disclosure Quality”, their assessment mechanisms are found to be immature. Thus, while a number of papers have sought to assess the quality of CSR disclosure, this paper aims to suggest an approach tied closely to both expectations in assessing “quality” derived from the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (revised 2018) and the global reporting initiative. The outcome is to offer a best practice approach to assessing CSR disclosure quality.

In this paper, prior literature is reviewed, qualitative characteristics from the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (revised 2018) and globally recognised guidelines such as the GRI are reviewed. The framework for a “CSR disclosure quality index” as an assessment tool to assess CSR disclosure quality is developed from qualitative characteristics and criteria identified.

The proposed CSR disclosure quality index is developed in stages from the qualitative characteristics identified in the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (revised 2018) and criteria identified from the guidelines discussed. A table was then developed linking the qualitative characteristics to criteria providing a Likert scale approach to assessing the disclosures made by companies to make an assessment of the quality of the companies’ reports. It is argued this provides a robust assessment, being a direct and comprehensive measure of disclosure quality.

As with most qualitative work, there are alternative approaches to establishing an index, but the authors believe this is an approach offering links (and, therefore, credibility) to globally recognised guidelines in the assessment of CSR disclosure quality. Future work could enhance the alignment of this index with the sustainable development goals (SDGs), building on the preliminary connections established in this study.

At a practical level this index offers an approach to reviewing the quality of CSR disclosures which could prove useful to policymakers and in the future development and expansion of this framework offering greater objectivity to assessments and justification for proposed improvement in reporting practice. Also, this index serves as a benchmarking tool for companies to meet the disclosure expectations of stakeholders.

This approach has the potential to substantially fulfil stakeholder expectations by addressing the growing demand for transparency in this area, while avoiding practices that could be perceived as superficial or misleading (greenwashing). Focusing on social issues enables stronger connections between companies and their stakeholders. Furthermore, the index helps companies link their CSR efforts with SDGs and show their commitment to long-term social value building in discussion of governance factors to show accountability expectations are being met.

This paper contributes to CSR disclosure quality literature and provides a reliable method of assessing the quality of CSR disclosures. Opportunities for further and broader developments can be envisaged while offering a credible and reliable approach.

This study investigates the potential association between corporate digitization and disclosure quality, and how this relationship is moderated by non-state ownership and institutional environment.

Drawing on signaling theory and factors that affect disclosure quality, the authors developed a framework to study how corporate digitization is associated with disclosure quality. The proposed framework was empirically tested using a comprehensive analysis that integrated corporate-level data on digitalization, disclosure quality, and ownership structure, with regional-level data on the institutional environment. The authors employed linear panel regression models with fixed effects.

The authors found that corporate digitization is significantly and positively associated with higher disclosure quality. This positive association is particularly pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises compared to state-owned enterprises. Additionally, an improvement in the institutional environment strengthens the positive relationship between digitization and disclosure quality.

This work contributes to the literature on corporate digitization by empirically investigating its impact on disclosure quality. The study also extends previous research by considering the moderating roles of ownership structure and institutional environment on the digitization-disclosure quality relationship.

This paper aims to evaluate the outcome effectiveness of the global reporting initiatives (GRI) transitions by understanding how companies have responded to the changes from G3.1 to G4 and finally to the GRI Standards.

A quality disclosure score is developed that incorporates assessments of both the quality of disclosures and the materiality of Australian companies. To analyse materiality, survey data were collected from 187 companies. Disclosure scores are based on a content analysis of the sustainability reports of 12 mining and metals companies and 12 financial services companies that used the GRI Standards from 2011 to 2019 (a total of 213 reports).

The study found that the GRI transitions have not led to companies improving the quality of their disclosures on areas considered important for them to achieve their social and environmental goals. Instead, the companies tended to use a greenwashing strategy, where the quality of disclosure of material issues declined or fluctuated over time.

From a practical perspective, the disclosure score developed in this paper enables managers of companies to recognize a threshold of completeness and to summarize the areas that are not materially relevant to their business.

The results are potentially helpful for investors, shareholders and other stakeholders, enabling them to better understand sustainability reports.

This study contributes to the body of research in sustainability reporting by providing evidence on the outcome effectiveness of the latest updates in the GRI framework.

This study aims to investigate the quality of disclosure of a cutting-edge reporting tool – integrated reporting (<IR>) – in terms of its effectiveness to report on COVID-19 pandemic information, its ability to provide forward-looking information and risk impact implications, and its quality determinants in challenging times.

Thanks to a content analysis of 247 <IR> for FY20, an integrated reporting disclosure score was developed to assess the disclosure quality provided by the sampled companies. Three research questions were tested through logistic regressions.

Non-financial disclosure activities struggle to provide adequate information in terms of potential future scenarios, risk assessment and forward-looking analyses. However, companies incorporated in “Anglo-Saxon” territories drafted integrated reports of higher quality. More recently, incorporated companies have made a greater effort to measure and report COVID-19 pandemic impacts on environmental, social and governance and business activities, also increasing their risk assessment and mitigation efforts. Concerning the determinants of disclosure quality, leverage, corporate governance structures, country of incorporation and belonging to “high impact” industries all lead to a higher quality of <IR> disclosure.

Examining in detail corporate social responsibility activities and corporate governance integrity is pivotal to orienting strategy towards sustainable trajectories: to do so, corporate reporting and disclosure practices are essential tools. In this context, corporate governance systems that emphasize board diversity are proven, even in disruptive circumstances, to play a crucial role in providing corporate reports of higher quality. High disclosure quality that goes beyond mere financial results is considered to be necessary to remain competitive strategically, socially and environmentally.

This study aims to examine the effect of social reputation on the relationship between boards and foreign ownership on the quality of sustainability disclosure.

The sample of this study consists of publicly-traded primary and secondary sector companies in Indonesia for 12 years, from 2009 to 2020. This study uses panel model regression to generate its results. The disclosure data are hand-collected data sourced from annual financial and company sustainability reports.

Higher foreign board component companies report lower quality of sustainability disclosure, whereas companies that possess foreign ownership components report a higher quality of sustainability disclosure. This result is strengthened by obtaining consistent results tested with economic, social and environmental disclosure components. In addition, if the company has a good social reputation, it will strengthen the relationship of foreign ownership to the quality of sustainability disclosure.

These findings are relevant for policymakers, professional organizations and practitioners in Indonesia and other developing countries.

The moderating effect of social reputation on the relation of the foreign board and foreign ownership-quality of sustainability disclosure as this study does remain rare in developing countries. This study complements various research conducted in developing countries, such as Indonesia, by offering a new dimension. The results indicate that social reputation has a moderating role in determining the impact of foreign ownership on the quality of sustainability disclosure.