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This study aims to seek to answer concerns about the sufficiency of traditional corporate reporting by examining the influence of the internal audit function’s (IAF) qualities on integrated reporting quality (IRQ) and the moderating effect of corporate social responsibility committee’s (CSRC). Even though integrated reporting (IR) is becoming more significant, nothing is known about the function of IAF in this setting.

This study uses ordinary least squares regressions, integrating two-way cluster-robust standard errors (clustered by firm and year), to examine the association between the quality IAF and IRQ, as well as the moderating influence of CSRC, for companies listed in Malaysia spanning the period from 2017 to 2020.

Analysing data from Malaysian-listed firms (2017–2020), findings show that increased IAF investments are associated with lower IRQ, particularly in the presence of a CSRC. However, firms with in-house show a positive association with higher IRQ, which is amplified by a CSRC. This suggests a complementary relationship between CSRC and in-house IAF, potentially guiding regulatory practices regarding CSR or sustainability committees. Thus, the presence of CSRC signifies the organization’s dedication to the advancement of sustainable development principles.

This study’s implications include promoting stronger internal mechanisms such as IAFs and CSRCs, which will ultimately improve IRQ. This research contributes to understanding the combined impact of IAF and CSRC on reporting quality by focusing on them as key governance components influencing both financial and non-financial reporting. As a result, regulators and practitioners can gain insights to improve IR efficacy and stakeholder decision-making.

Integrated reporting (IR) is a new trend in corporate reporting that has spread rapidly in recent years for disclosing financial and non-financial information. This study aims to assess the status of the current regulations and the trends in IR disclosure practice in an emerging market, Malaysia, by providing a comparative analysis of the IR disclosure level (IRDL) and IR disclosure quality (IRDQ).

The current study has developed a comprehensive IR disclosure index based on the international integrated reporting framework (IIRF), which comprises 100 items divided into four categories (background, assurance and reliability, content and form). The data were collected from annual reports of companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia over the three years 2017 to 2019, based on 267 observations. Content analysis technique was used to evaluate and measure IRDL and IRDQ. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined.

IR regulations are at an early stage, and IR adoption is still voluntary in the Malaysian market. Only 267 Malaysian company-year observations during the years 2017–2019 have adopted IR techniques. However, descriptive analysis results showed that Malaysian companies have moved towards the preparation of IR consistent with the IIRF. The findings indicate a significant increase in both IRDL and IRDQ over this period, after the recent recommendation by the Malaysian code of corporate governance (2017) on adopting IR. Further, the results show statistically significant differences in the mean of IRDL and IRDQ between large and small companies.

These results are important for regulators and policymakers in articulating new IR legislation in an emerging market and for corporate entities and investors in shaping their understanding of IR disclosure practice in the Malaysian institutional context.

To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, the study is among the first to address the IR regulation status and practice in Malaysian companies. It also established a comprehensive index for measuring IRDL and IRDQ based on the IIRF. The results add to the meagre descriptive literature on IR practice by providing comprehensive insights into IR practice from the perspective of an emerging country.

The global economy has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has placed greater responsibility on companies to fulfill their obligations to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) amid the crisis. This chapter investigates the role of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) attributes in improving a firm's CSR in the emerging economy of Jordan and how the COVID-19 pandemic modifies this relationship. Using a Jordanian sample of 655 firm-year observations during the 2014–2021 period, the research results show that older CEOs, well-educated CEOs, CEOs' remuneration, and CEOs' ownership positively correlate with CSR reporting. However, long-tenured CEOs are associated with lower CSR initiatives. The subsample analysis findings also validate the significance of CEO attributes in improving CSR practice during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the prepandemic period. These findings are beneficial for the regulatory setters to understand better whether CEO attributes are linked to engagement in CSR-related information. This research is among the limited number of studies that have explored how CEO attributes impact CSR reporting for the stakeholder's welfare. Moreover, it uniquely concentrated on contrasting the findings before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.