Motivated by agency conflicts of real earnings management and upper echelons in CEO demographic characteristics, this study examines the effect of CEO attributes on real earnings management and addresses the question of whether the presence of an independent board ensures accurate and reliable financial reporting practice. The study also examines the extent to which independent boards moderate the relationship between CEO attributes and real earnings management. Using a sample of 292 observations from Nigeria, an emerging market, from 2018 to 2021, a feasible generalized least square (FGLS) regression model was used to analyze the data. The authors also consider alternative measures of real earnings management. Our results demonstrate that CEO financial expertise, compensation, and CEO nationality reduce real earnings management and improve the financial reporting quality. Accordingly, the results show that independent directors on the board strengthen the CEO’s ability to reduce likely earnings manipulation. However, we find that the presence of a female CEO does not mitigate real earnings manipulation, but that the presence of independent directors enhances the ability of female CEOs to reduce earnings manipulation and produce reliable financial reports. Our results are robust and may have implications for regulators, shareholders, managers, and researchers because it shows that CEO attributes and the presence of independent directors on the board are associated with higher earnings quality.

Sustainable growth and environmental issues have been one of the critical topics discussed by governments, legislators and environmentalists worldwide. These issues have vital impacts on the future sustainability performance of a company, societies, environment and other interrelated ecosystem. The objectives of the study are three-folds (i) to examine the extent of environmental disclosures (ER) among industrial listed companies, (ii) to examine the factors which motivate companies to disclose ER and (iii) to assess the impact of ER disclosures on sustainability performances in terms of returns on invested capital (ROIC) and sustainable growth (SG). Based on content analysis, this study finds that the level of ER disclosures is very low with an average ER Disclosure Score of only 26%. Hence more efforts are needed to motivate firms to disclose environmental activities. Using hierarchical tobit regression with robust standard error, this study finds that board diversity (Muslim directors), firm size, profitability and growth have significant influence on ER disclosures. Other board characteristics such as board size and board independence were not significant drivers of environmental disclosures. Firm size and growth had strong significant effect on one-year ahead and average 3-year future performances while the results of ER disclosures on future performances are insignificant.Keywords: environmental reporting, sustainability growth, board diversity, Muslim, gender, integrated reporting.JEL Classifications: G38, M14, Q56DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.9508

This paper aims to examine the determinants of sustainability disclosure quality among plantation companies in Malaysia. Data analysis is based on all 44 listed plantation companies on Bursa Malaysia between 2016 and 2018. The study utilizes a content analysis adapted from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)—G4 guideline, Sustainability Accounting Standard Board guidelines, and Bursa Malaysia Guidelines 2018, to measure sustainability disclosure quality (SDQ). Results from ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis corrected for standard errors indicate that shariah-compliant status and internal mechanisms (board size, the presence of women directors, the existence of sustainability committees, and CEOs with business knowledge) significantly improve SDQ. Firm size, firm age, leverage, growth, and Big 4 auditors also significantly improve SDQ. The study provides useful insights into the importance of women directors and the presence of sustainability committees towards SDQ. This study contributes to the discussion that internal mechanisms (board size, independent boards, women directors, sustainability committees) and firm characteristics (shariah compliant, family ownership, CEO ownership, foreign ownership) can increase sustainability reporting and disclosure quality. The measurement of SDQ is novel in Malaysian context even though the methodology is often used in the literature.

Institutional Ownership and Cash Holding

Journal of Advanced Management Science (JOAMS)