A plethora of studies have examined the emerging technology of blockchain and its applications in accounting, management, and enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs). Blockchain technology (BT) can change the architecture of today’s ERPs and overcome the limitations of these centralized systems. The aim of this study is twofold. First, this paper defines and analyzes the deployment of an innovative architecture of a Blockchain as an Ecosystem (BaaE) platform proposing a conceptual model of the Triple Entry Accounting (TEA) transforming the current accounting practices. Second, the paper explores the integration of cost management, supply chain, and inventory management on BT providing the significant challenges and benefits and suggesting an agenda for future research. The authors conduct an exploratory qualitative analysis of an extensive body of literature, from 81 journals. The paper’s innovative contribution and primary objective is to explore, address, and employ this emerging BaaE platform technology that could potentially be integrated with TEA. Further, the study examines the theoretical, technical, and business aspects regarding TEA, since there is limited research evidence in this field. Additionally, the study tries to identify the implications of BaaE in the area of cost management, supply chain, and inventory management from an ecosystem perspective. This effort can assist organizations and practitioners in understanding and further examining this emerging technology.

A company’s “value” is increasingly influenced by three criteria: the way it acts to protect the environment, its attitude towards society and the principles of corporate governance it has adopted. That is the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) acronym, and it has substantial impact on company value. To further understand the ESG landscape in business research, this article aims to analyze the existing literature and present the current state of knowledge, main trends, and future perspectives. Through the Scopus database, the authors examine a sample of 1034 articles spanning from 2006 to 2022. VOSviewer and Biblioshiny packages are used for performance analysis and visualization of the publication trends, the conceptual structure of the field and the research collaborations. The results suggest that the publication and citation trends of ESG register an upward trend over time. In terms of research institutions, most of the influential ones emanate from the US, while a significant percentage of articles were published in top-tier financial journals. Science mapping via co-authorship analysis bifurcates the sample into six clusters and reveals the major themes and their evolution. Keyword analysis unfolds emerging trends that could be further explored. Given the breadth of the sustainability field and the ever-changing business environment, this paper is of great practical importance in motivating companies to engage in ESG activities. To the authors’ knowledge, no other study has attempted a comprehensive and detailed BA covering multiple aspects and dimensions of ESG in the corporate research field. The theoretical framework of this paper fills this gap and offers an in-depth synthesis of all published papers, providing invaluable insights to scholars, the business community and regulatory authorities, and creating alternative research paths for aspiring researchers.

This study examines the impact of ESG on Εarnings Quality (EQ) and Real Earnings Management (REM). Additionally, it investigates the potential role of firm size (FS) in this relationship. Using a fixed-effects multivariate regression analysis on an international sample of 32,050 firm-year observations over the period 2003–2022, we show that ESG enhances EQ and restricts REM. Further analysis confirms our main findings, indicating that the intensity of the positive relationship between ESG and EQ is more pronounced in small firms, while the negative association between ESG and REM is more intense in large firms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to capture the impact of ESG on both EQ and REM using international evidence, while testing the role of FS. Our findings suggest that EQ and earnings management (EM) can be viewed as a double-edged sword of reporting quality, thus, a more flexible and proactive strategy is needed when considering the material effects of ESG.

This research examines the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria and tax behavior, with a particular focus on tax avoidance (TA). Despite the extensive literature on ESG and tax behavior, there remains a research gap concerning their interaction in the financial sector. The study is based on a dataset of 125 observations from 33 articles covering the period 2012–2023. The results of the meta-regression suggest that both ESG and TA indicators account for the different findings of the primary studies. Part of the observed heterogeneity can also be explained by the diversity of data samples and econometric approaches. Using the results of the meta-regression, we attempt to predict the association between ESG and TA in hypothetical and plausible study designs. The findings show no or small-to-moderate association between the two, suggesting that companies tend to separate ESG strategies from TA and underscoring the need for more consistent measurement practices. Notably, the link between the main variables appears to be strengthened in environments with extreme behaviors, both in terms of ESG and tax strategy. Distinct from prior meta-studies that centered on CSR and taxation, our analysis isolates the ESG/TA nexus by accounting for measurement heterogeneity (different ESG and TA proxies) and demonstrates that extreme behaviors largely drive the observed association. By examining the determinants of the heterogeneity of primary research into the ESG/TA relationship, this meta-analysis provides valuable insights that can guide future research, practical implementation, and regulatory policies. In particular, researchers should rely on long-run measures of TA (e.g., multi-year ETRs) and harmonized ESG indicators to reduce bias and enhance comparability across studies, thereby providing policymakers with more robust and consistent evidence.

The purpose of this paper is to research a possible relationship between corporate tax avoidance with corporate governance characteristics such as board independence, the type of auditing company and the concentration of ownership, and a range of selected financial indicators such as return on capital employed, liquidity, leverage, and company size. For this reason, the analysis was based on quantitative and qualitative data derived from the annual financial reports from a sample of 56 companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange covering the period 2011 to 2015. As a measure of tax avoidance, the cash effective tax rate was used, while a linear regression model using the random effect method was estimated in order to examine the factors that affect it. The results of the study show that the cash effective tax rate has a statistically significant positive relationship with company size and a significant negative relationship with return on capital employed. All in all, the research shows that Greek large-sized companies show less tax avoidance, whereas in companies with a high return on capital employed the extent of tax avoidance is higher. There was no statistically significant impact of corporate governance variables on tax avoidance.