The ever-increasing need for forensic accounting services in today’s business environment has highlighted the need for accounting educators to consider integrating forensic accounting into their curriculum. This research has provided evidence about the current forensic accounting curricula, handbooks and syllabi and explored the pedagogical methods that Australian universities currently use in forensic accounting education. In addition, forensic accounting practitioners and academics were interviewed to further explore potential forensic accounting pedagogies. The theoretical framework used included experiential learning theory and signature pedagogies theory. The case study yielded insights into the usefulness and effectiveness of various teaching methods in forensic accounting. The findings support the use of an experiential approach as a philosophy and signature for forensic accounting educational pedagogies. It is proposed that forensic accounting educators aspire to engaging students with experiential learning methods as this approach simulates real forensic accounting work in technical, theoretical and ethical dimensions.

This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance disclosure and profitability, highlighting the significant differences between the financial and non-financial sectors. This study uses an extensive Australian sample during the 2007–2017 period from Bloomberg’s database. A panel regression model is used to evaluate the association between the corporate ESG performance disclosure and profitability to conduct an industry analysis. The robustness of the results is rigorously assessed using several robustness tests to evaluate the methodological, sample selection, endogeneity and causality issues associated with corporate ESG performance disclosure. This study finds that higher corporate ESG performance disclosure is associated with higher company profitability. However, the industry comparison analysis shows significant differences between financial and non-financial industries. This study finds that for companies operating in non-financial sectors, except for corporate governance, there is no significant association between corporate environmental and social elements and a company’s profitability. Therefore, this study has implications for regulators and corporations. The empirical results of this study show that improving corporate ESG performance disclosure is beneficial to shareholders and other stakeholders in the long run. However, the enforcement of environmentally and socially responsible conduct improves profitability only in the financial industry. This study recommends that the regulators create a conducive institutional environment to promote ESG performance in the financial industry. Therefore, it enhances ESG awareness for the borrowers as well as helps economic development.

This study examines the association between a firm’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and financial performance by examining the extent to which stakeholder and legitimacy theory help explain the effects on explanatory variables used in the study. Moreover, the study makes a novel contribution to existing ESG and performance-based studies by exploring the explanatory effects of ESG and firm performance over ten years. In addition, the study discusses the ESG-performance link of SMEs, thus advancing existing knowledge related to ESG in respect of SME performance. The study uses an extensive Australian sample from Bloomberg’s database from 2007 to 2017, while panel regression analysis is applied to investigate the relationship between a firm’s ESG performance and profitability. The robustness of the results is evaluated after incorporating several robustness checks to address methodological, endogeneity and causality issues related to a firm’s ESG performance disclosure. The empirical findings of this study suggest that improving a firm’s ESG performance is beneficial to all stakeholders of large firms in the long run but not for SME companies. The theoretical model suggests that listed SMEs do not disclose their ESG activities for various reasons, such as a lack of necessary resources. Specifically, the study extends scholarly understanding of existing theory and discusses the significance of the findings for future research.

We examine the longitudinal relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and financial performance by investigating attributes among firms operating in different industry sectors longitudinally. Using panel regression analysis on Australian publicly listed firms from 2007 to 2021, we find that CSR performance positively influences financial performance. Furthermore, our industry-specific analysis uncovers notable distinctions. Specifically, within the consumer product markets, including recreational facilities, travel and tourism, lodging, dining, and leisure products, firms benefit from stakeholder rewards for their CSR efforts, leading to sustained financial gains. However, this positive association is absent for firms operating in industrial product markets, where stakeholders do not offer similar rewards for CSR performance. The significance of stakeholder engagement becomes evident in consumer market sectors, as firms with higher levels of CSR performance secure stakeholder support, resulting in superior long-term financial performance. Our findings contribute to the existing CSR literature and offer practical insights and implications for managers operating in diverse product market industries, including the dynamic field of tourism and hospitality seeking to harness CSR performance, meet stakeholder expectations, and achieve financial advantages.

This study explores fiscal consolidations’ impact on non-performing loans (NPLs) in highly indebted countries (HICs) following the global financial crisis (GFC) and subsequent sovereign debt crisis. A dynamic panel data estimator was applied to obtain the unbiased estimator due to NPLs’ time persistence. The findings reveal that fiscal consolidation measures increase NPLs since they limit the household and business loan-serving capacity. Extended analysis categorises fiscal consolidation episodes into (1) the fiscal consolidation weak form (FCWE) and (2) the fiscal consolidation strong form (FCSE). The extended analysis results reveal that the FCWE and FCSE improve NPLs by 1.55% and 31.10%, respectively. The weak-to-strong form transition of the fiscal consolidation analysis resulted in improving NPLs by 28.55 percentage points. NPL definition challenges, the potential influence of loan restructuring and regulatory restrictions, and implications for policymakers and financial institutions in managing NPLs in highly indebted economies were explored. Investigating the potentially different effects of both forms of fiscal consolidation (FCWE and FCSE) on NPLs in countries with different definitions of NPLs, including a comparison study between different definitions, was identified as an implication for future research. Finally, future studies should examine how restrictions on IFRS 9 may affect the FCWE and NPL as well as FCSE and NPL associations.