The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australian household finances and understand how the pandemic has had significant repercussions for household finances and behaviours toward saving and spending goals. Based on a national survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in December 2020, we report that financial shocks continued to hit low-income households and one-parent families with dependent children the hardest. The lowest-income households had to forfeit a week’s worth of income on a less expensive shock but three times their weekly income to absorb a more expensive shock. The low-income households and one parent family with dependent children did well in following a budget, however, they were in a weak position when considering the ability to save regularly. The overall households also had a low rate of seeking financial information, counselling or advice from a professional. These findings will have implications for the policymakers and advisors who assist households in sustaining their finances and well-being.

We study the impact of sustainability on the financial performance of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the period of COVID-19. Using a sample of 244 Australian ETFs rated by Morningstar in April 2020, we conducted the portfolio analysis and cross-sectional regression analysis, and the results show that ETF portfolios with lower carbon risk and fossil fuel exposure tend to outperform. However, ETF portfolios with higher social risk tend to deliver a better performance. We also find that ETF portfolios with high environmental risk, governance risk, carbon risk and fossil fuel exposure are more likely to experience high volatility in stock returns. The findings will serve as an important point of reference for investors, businesses and wider stakeholders. The sustainable investing is proving to be resilient during the COVID-19 and a closer look at ESG risks is a lens through which business leaders can build better and more resilient enterprises.

In an international setting of developing countries, applying advanced statistical estimation approaches such as the system generalized method of moments (GMM), two-stage least square (2SLS) regressions, and cluster analysis, this paper revisits the impact of macro-level governance quality and the corruption index on the economic growth rate. We use cross-country panel data for 40 sub-Saharan and the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries over the period of 2009–2020. The empirical results document the positive and negative effects of the national governance index and the corruption index on the economic growth rate. Additionally, foreign direct investment and population have a positive impact on the economic growth rate and trade openness has a negative impact. The study evaluates the robustness of these associations through a series of tests. These findings have important policy implications for policymakers and regulators in developing countries. In particular, the study recommends the implementation of an anti-corruption campaign and improving country-level governance quality that could encourage increased foreign direct investment for an accelerated economic growth rate. These will further enhance accountability, transparency, the rule of law, social responsibility, the public voice, and government effectiveness.

Purpose: Financial institutions have a role in harmonising economic purposes with environmental and social purposes through transmission mechanisms whereby the institutions provide channels to promote socially and environmental desirable activities. This study explores the sustainability criteria disclosed at firm-level corporate social responsibility reports for the purpose of providing direction for financial institutions committed to enhancing the contribution to sustainability objectives.Design/methodology/approach: The Delphi Method and the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) system have been employed to systematically analyse the opinions of 15 experts regarding the operation of the 7 Taiwanese financial institutions listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2019 with respect to the capacity to affect sustainability objectives.Findings: The findings reveal a high prominence level for corporate governance, law compliance, risk management and occupational safety and health, representing amongst the sustainability criteria considered. This suggests that financial institutions may benefit from focussing resources on these areas, starting with corporate governance, when considering means for enhancing the sustainability performance.Research limitations/implications: The study is limited by the small number of financial institutions available in Taiwan which suggests that further research could be directed towards a larger sample of financial institutions, say by international comparison, expanding the range of industries studied or the inclusion for additional sustainability indicators.Practical implications: Overall, the study has shed light on Taiwan's financial institutions' capacity to contribute to sustainable practices which is an area that has not been extensively investigated. This study may have useful implications for financial institutions in Taiwan.Social implications: The authors also recognise other factors that are likely to contribute to social impacts. These include human capacity building and development, information security, green procurement, green building and climate-related financial products.Originality/value: This study fills the gap by providing useful insights for a better understanding of sustainable development in financial institutions by promoting sustainability practice in general. The authors' analysis will assist decision-makers in identifying and prioritising the driving factors and thus adopting suitable strategies to strengthen sustainability performance.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are software module packages which can be customized up to a certain limit to suit the specific needs of each organization. Many ERP projects have not been effective at achieving all of the intended results due to high cost and high failure risks in ERP implementation. This study integrates the prior theories and knowledge gained from several textile industry practitioners for ERP projects. A two-stage method involving the Delphi and analytic hierarchy process decision support methodology was conducted. Based on the case of the textile industry in Taiwan, the findings illustrate the top 10 key factors: a clear project plan by defined ERP capacity requirement; a limited scope and focused flowchart; goal congruence between ERP project implementation and corporate strategy; top management support and commitment; the extent of standard operating procedures and institutional processes; a user-friendly interface; systems integrated with aggressive schedules and timelines; provision of technical assistance for rapid, effective transfer of best practice interventions; good interdepartmental communication and coordination on a focused issue solution; and enablement of business process reengineering and solid management for project team building. The findings of this research will be beneficial to those apparel companies that adopted the ERP.

Purpose This study is primarily motivated by the increasing concern of the academic, practitioners, regulators and standard setters regarding the quality of earnings and financial reporting. The purpose is to investigate whether the accrual anomaly exists in Australia; whether the occurrence of the accrual anomaly is attributed to the discretionary accruals component stemming from managerial discretion; and the impact of corporate governance reforms on accrual mispricing. Design/methodology/approach This study employs the Mishkin (1983) rational expectations test to examine whether the earnings expectations embedded in stock prices accurately reflect the differential persistence of earnings components. It also employs the hedge portfolio trading strategy to examine whether taking a long position in firms with low accruals and a short position in firms with high accruals will yield positive abnormal stock returns. Findings The results show that investors overestimate the persistence of accruals and underestimate the persistence of cash flows and subsequently, overprice the accruals and underprice the cash flows. The evidence of accrual mispricing is severe for the component of discretionary accruals. Nonetheless, the association between discretionary accruals and abnormal returns are weakened during the corporate governance reforms period. Research limitations/implications It should be cautious to attribute the investors' ability to accurately price accruals and cash flows to the passage of corporate governance reform program. Despite there is control for firm size, book-to-market, PE multiple, growth and leverage, other macro-economic factors such as interest rates, inflation and GDP could potentially have an impact on stock returns. Practical implications The passage of corporate governance reform program has increased the level of financial reporting disclosure and the monitoring of management, which subsequently improved accruals persistence and earnings quality. A direct practical implication is that investors should better understand the information in accruals for future earnings when the corporate disclosure environment is strengthened. Social implications This study provides useful information to regulators, academics and investors interested in market efficiency and accrual mispricing. The results suggest that the reform of corporate governance is associated with more efficient prices. This may be of interest to the regulators who intend to improve earnings quality and financial reporting environment through the regulatory reform. Originality/value To test the accrual anomaly in the period of corporate governance reforms is particularly useful to regulators and policy makers. It allows regulators and policy makers to gain insight as whether the change of regulation has been effective - more transparent and timely reporting of financial information are supposed to help the investors to better understand the accruals and thus mitigate the potential for accrual mispricing.