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The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine how women in board represent moderates the relationship between audit quality and corporate tax avoidance.

The study is based on a sample consisting of 270 UK firms over the 2005–2017 period. This study is motivated by moderating regression analysis.

The results show that audit quality influences the corporate tax avoidance. Audit quality measured by two proxies audit specialization and audit fees has a negative effect on corporate tax avoidance. Board gender diversity “BGD” moderates the relationship between audit quality and tax avoidance. The impact of the BGD level increases as the presence of woman in the board escalated from 40 to 60 percent but, then, weakens at 10 percent level.

The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, practitioners and regulators who are interested in discovering relation between audit quality and tax avoidance with the presence of woman in the board. This study should be of interest to tax policymakers concerned about declining corporate tax revenues.

This paper extends the existing literature by examining the moderating effect of BGD on the relation between audit quality and corporate tax avoidance using the sensitivity analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect links between corporate governance and tax avoidance using corporate social responsibility (CSR).

This study is based on a sample consisting of 300 UK and 200 French firms over the period 2005-2017. This study is motivated by structural equations and system models that specify both a direct link and an indirect link between corporate governance and tax avoidance.

The results show that CSR fully mediates the relationship between corporate governance and tax avoidance in UK firms. In addition, in French firms, CSR partially mediates the relation between corporate governance and tax avoidance.

The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, practitioners and regulators who are interested in discovering corporate governance score, tax avoidance and CSR. Regulators must evaluate their actual corporate governance mechanisms and their country’s legal system before mandating additional governance mechanisms for firms in their country.

This study proved empirically that firms with a higher level of social responsibility are better positioned to obtain more transparency through reducing tax avoidance.

This paper extends the existing literature by examining the mediation effect of CSR on the relationship between tax avoidance and corporate governance.

This study aims to investigate whether board gender diversity and sustainability performance influence tax avoidance.

The study is based on a sample consisting of 300 UK firms over the 2005-2017 period. This study is motivated by structural equations and system models that specify both a direct and an indirect link between board gender diversity and tax avoidance.

The results show that the level of tax avoidance decrease when the level of women on the board increase. Therefore, we find that sustainability performance is generally associated with greater tax avoidance. In combination, the results suggest that board gender diversity and sustainability performance play a significant role in corporate tax avoidance.

The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, investors and regulators. For academic researchers, it is interested in discovering board gender diversity, sustainability performance and tax avoidance. For investors, the results show that the existence of female directors on the board reduces the tax avoidance. For regulators, the results advise the worldwide policy makers to give the importance of female roles to improve the engagement firms in sustainability reporting.

This study extends the existing literature by examining the mediating effect of sustainability performance on the relationship between board gender and tax avoidance in the UK context.

The purpose of this paper is to argue the relationship between chief sustainability officer, sustainability performance and corporate governance. Specifically, this paper aims to empirically examine the mediation role of corporate governance on the relationship between chief sustainability officer and sustainability performance.

The study sample includes 484 European companies that were listed on STOXX Europe 600 index between 2010 and 2022. There are 15 supersectors and 17 nations.

Results of this study show that the profile of chief sustainability officer has a positive impact on sustainability performance. In addition, the corporate governance mediates the relationship between chief sustainability officer and sustainability performance.

The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, investors and regulators. For academic researchers, the results would be interesting in discovering the dynamic relation between chief sustainability officer, sustainability performance and corporate governance. For investors, these show that the existence of chief sustainability officer provides sustainability performance from good corporate governance mechanisms. For regulators, these advise the worldwide policy maker to give the importance to chief sustainability officer roles to improve the engagement of firms in sustainability performance reporting.

This paper extends the existing literature by examining the mediation impact of corporate governance on the relationship between chief sustainability officer and sustainability performance in the European context.

This study aims to provide a valuable contribution by exploring the moderating effect of women directors on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate tax avoidance of Malaysian listed companies.

The study is based on a sample consisting of 78 Malaysian firms over the 2010–2017 period. A moderation model that specifies the interaction between CSR, women directors and corporate tax avoidance motivates this study.

The results show that a high level of CSR is negatively associated with corporate tax avoidance in firms with a higher percentage of women on the board.

The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, investors and regulators. For academic researchers, it is interested in discovering the dynamic relation between CSR, woman on the board and tax avoidance. For investors, the results show that the existence of female directors on the board reduces the corporate tax avoidance. For regulators, the results advise the worldwide policy maker to give the importance of female roles to improve the engagement firms in CSR reporting.

This paper extends the existing literature by examining the moderating effect of women directors on the relationship between CSR and corporate tax avoidance in the Malaysian context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect links between corporate governance and sustainability performance using corporate social responsibility.

The study is based on a sample consisting of 300 UK firms over the 2005–2017 period. This study applied structural equations models that specify both a direct and an indirect link between corporate governance and sustainability performance.

The authors find that corporate governance has a positive effect on sustainability performance. In addition, this study shows that corporate social responsibility fully mediates the relationship between corporate governance and sustainability performance in UK firms.

This study shows that firms are invited to engage more in sustainability performance and corporate social responsibility activities, which reduces agency conflicts between managers and shareholders.

To the authors’ knowledge, no research studies examined empirically the direct and indirect relationship between corporate governance and sustainability performance. Therefore, the main contribution of this research is to show how corporate governance effectiveness leads to higher corporate social responsibility level and sustainability performance using two analyses methods (mediator analysis and multiple mediator analysis).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect links between book-tax differences (BTDs) and audit quality using accounting conservatism (proxy of earnings quality). Hence, this paper seeks to extend prior audit quality research.

This study uses a sample of Tunisian listed firms on the Tunis Stock Exchange and operating in the industrial and commercial sectors during 2005-2012. This investigation is motivated by structural equations system models that specify both a direct link and an indirect link that is mediated by information reflected in BTDs.

The results show that for the Tunisians companies, firms with large BTDs are associated with higher audit quality implies that such BTDs represent an observable proxy for earnings quality that affects auditor decisions. The authors find statistically an indirect link between abnormal BTDs and audit quality that is mediated by earnings quality. The current study also provides evidence that information reflected in BTDs can improve audit quality.

The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, practitioners and regulators who are interested in discovering the informational value of BTDs in the audit process.

This paper extends the existing literature by examining the mediation effect of information reflected in BTDs on relationship between BTDs and audit quality.

This study examines the role of corporate governance on corporate tax avoidance from the developing country perspective of Malaysia.

A sample of 318 firm-year observations from 2016 to 2020 from the 100 largest listed companies in Malaysia was analysed using a fixed effects panel least squares regression model.

CEOs play a significant role in corporate tax avoidance in Malaysia. Specifically, they are motivated by money and power to engage in risky tax avoidance activity. It was also found that corporate governance mechanisms related to the board of directors have a limited effect on companies’ tax compliance issues.

This study’s findings can help regulators and policymakers understand the circumstances leading to increased tax aggressiveness as well as the limitations of certain governance mechanisms in curbing tax avoidance activity within companies. The findings can also assist shareholders and investors in formulating internal policies to create better alignment of their interests with those of management. The unique emerging economy evidence and insights from this study advance knowledge and can inspire fellow researchers in their future studies.

This study differs from most prior studies by examining the governance and tax issue from a developing country perspective, that of Malaysia. Developments in the country’s corporate governance framework and tax landscape in recent years make it relevant and interesting to investigate the issue in this emerging economy. Offering unique empirical evidence and insights from an emerging economy viewpoint, and with findings that may be generalised to other emerging economies sharing similar market traits (particularly ASEAN nations), this study enriches and extends the existing literature.

This study examines the impact of profitability, firm size and leverage on corporate tax avoidance in Bangladesh, an emerging South Asian economy.

A balanced panel data of 62 firms from Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges in Bangladesh from 2009 to 2020 were used to run the regression. This study employed the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) to examine the hypotheses.

The findings show that large firms positively impact corporate tax avoidance. Similarly, profitability and leverage are positively associated with tax avoidance, and the results are significant. Furthermore, the study conducts robustness tests that confirm the findings.

The use of cash effective tax rate (ETR) to investigate firms’ tax avoidance practices poses some limitations, and the results should be interpreted cautiously.

The current study may help policymakers better enhance tax collection from business firms. The findings could serve as a valuable input for effectively monitoring tax collection from large profit-earning firms.

To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first historical attempt in Bangladesh to use panel data to examine the relationship between the firm’s level characteristics and corporate tax avoidance. Panel data often provides greater flexibility with large data, simplifying calculation and statistical analysis.

This study examines the moderating role of female directors on the relationship between the firms’ characteristics and tax avoidance in an emerging economy.

This study employs the second-generation unit root test and the generalised method of moments (GMM) techniques. The Kao residual cointegration test corroborates a long-run cointegration among variables.

Female directors demonstrate mixed and unusual findings. No significant impact of female directors on tax avoidance is found. In addition, the presence of female directors does not show any negative or significant moderating impacts on the relationship between leverage, firm age, board size and tax avoidance. However, having more female directors can negatively and significantly moderate the relationship between more profitable firms, larger firms and tax avoidance. These findings show that the board of directors could use the presence of female directors to maximise their opportunistic behaviour, such as to avoid tax.

Research limitations – The study is limited by considering only 62 listed firms. The scope could be extended to include non-listed firms.

Research implications – There is increasing pressure for female directors on boards from diverse stakeholders, such as the European Commission, national governments, politicians, employer lobby groups, shareholders, and Fortune and Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) rankings. This study provides input to decision-makers putting gender quota laws into practice. Our findings can help policy-makers adopt regulatory reforms to control tax avoidance practices and enhance organisational legitimacy. Policymakers can change their policy to include female directors up to the threshold suggested by the critical mass theory.

This is the first attempt in Bangladesh to explore the role of female directors in the relationship between the firms' characteristics and tax avoidance. The current study has significant ramifications for bringing gender diversity into practice as a component of good corporate governance.