Although firms increasingly publish sustainability reports, assuring such reports is relatively new. This study reviews the literature of sustainability assurance to evaluate the intellectual development of the field and provide recommendations for future studies. It also demonstrates the role of assurance to enhance the credibility of sustainability reports and corporate reputation. This paper systematically reviews 94 papers obtained from the Scopus database between 1993 and August 2021. Our study shows that there is an increase in the number of studies published in recent years. We also found that some countries have received limited attention, such as the USA. The scant literature examining sustainability assurance in private institutions and non-profit organisations should be reinforced. Likewise, the sustainability research also provides limited evidence on the governance debate. The vast majority of research is not based on theoretical grounds. The need for assurance of sustainability reports not only enhances the reputation but also adds more value to the organisation’s planning, monitoring, and accountability. We highlight several new research suggestions that may enhance the understanding of sustainability assurance practices.

This study investigated the role of Carbon disclosure on firm performance while considering the moderating role of management environmental training as it enhances the mechanisms of governance and monitoring practices. The data was collected from eleven European countries and listed in the Reuters Eikon database from 2016 to 2021. The Hausman test is used to test the usage of the panel method (panel data) with fixed and random effects. The results are the following: The management’s environmental training played a moderating role in carbon emission disclosure, resulting in better firm performance. This means that management environmental training would play a vital role in addressing such disclosure issues and being prepared to formulate better measurements to tackle their effects. Our study is one of the few that analyzes how the moderating role of management environmental training in carbon emission disclosure results in better firm performance.

This article investigates the impact of the audit committee attributes in determining the financial performance of Saudi non-financial firms. The research sampled the data of 100 companies spanning from 2010 to 2019 obtained from the firms’ financial statements. The data generated were analysed using different panel data techniques (pooled OLS, fixed and random effects). This study emphasises that audit committee size and meetings negatively influence firms’ performance. However, audit committee independence and financial expertise indicate a strong and positive relationship with financial performance. Therefore, this study provides valuable insights into how audit committee attributes affect profitability. Furthermore, this research may guide companies’ top management on restructuring the audit committee to improve corporate governance practices. Also, the results suggest that Saudi regulatory agencies should ensure that listed firms set up audit committees with more independent directors and financial experts. This requirement may help the firms mitigate information disparity between management and shareholders, thus, reducing agency conflicts and boosting firm performance. Consequently, this paper sheds light on the Saudi corporate environment, so investors may find this research helpful in making their investment decisions.

Carbon disclosure research has sparked a growing interest due to climate change phenomenon and the impact thereof on the global market in recent years. Despite this trend, there is still a gap in knowledge regarding the role that carbon disclosure plays in the economic activities of corporations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to systematically review the available literature on corporate carbon reporting by assessing current research trends, theoretical perspectives, and themes discussed in the field. A final sample of 168 studies from the Scopus database that explicitly discussed carbon reporting were included in this investigation. The results indicated an increase in the number of studies, especially in the last five years. In addition, carbon disclosure practices vary between different firm types, sectors, and countries. However, there is a shortage of empirical studies on some contexts that have rarely been considered. Moreover, it was found that the existing literature has only focused on the demographic characteristics of firms as the driving factor of carbon disclosure, while little attention has been paid to the attributes of governance, auditing, top management, and ownership. Nevertheless, there is no academic consensus on some determinants of carbon reporting, including profitability and the effect of the industry. With regard to the reporting quality, there is no evidence that less disclosed information means that reporting is rare in quality. This study provides a comprehensive, systematic analysis of carbon disclosure studies. The implications for future research are also discussed.

Despite evidence on the social and economic importance of financial inclusion (FI), the relationship between FI and bank profitability remains unclear. In this research, we evaluated the association between financial inclusion and the performance of banks in Palestine using dynamic panel analysis applied to a sample of 11 banks, with two econometric models representing profitability indicators over a nine-year period (2012–2020). In addition to linear regression models, the generalized method of moments estimator was utilized. The results showed that access to financial services (e.g., the number of automated teller machines (ATMs) and the number of bank branches), service delivery (including the average costs to maintain a current account), and the quality of the products improve banks’ profitability. However, point-of-sale terminals have no impact on profitability. Additionally, financial service utilization reflected in bank account number sand credit to small and medium-sized enterprises do not affect bank profitability, and among bank-specific variables, the nonperforming loan ratios, the cost-to-income ratios, and liquidity were found to be the main drivers of profitability. Policymakers in Palestine must prioritize FI by adopting rules that encourage lending to practices of financial institutions.