The study examines the impact of corporate governance mechanisms, such as board characteristics on corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). The data on CSRD items and board characteristics have been collected by content analysis of the annual reports of 30 publicly-listed banks in Bangladesh covering six years, from 2013 to 2018. More specifically, the directors' report, the chairman's statement, notes to the financial statement and CSR disclosure reports included in annual reports were used to collect the CSRD data. The empirical analysis applies the ordinary least square and the generalized method of moments. The results of the study have revealed that board size, board independence, female board member, and foreign directors have a significant positive impact on CSRD. By contrast, political directors and audit committee size have a negative impact on CSRD. Interestingly, accounting experts on boards ensure more CSRD as they curb the influence of politicians on the board. Thus, it is better to increase accounting experts and decrease politicians on the board. These findings provide valuable insights into the process of forming a suitable CSR policy by connecting the efforts of the board, government, and regulatory bodies to enhance the performance of banks to CSR as well as to CSRD.

In compliance with the socioeconomic theory, the study has strived to investigate the impact of economic and non-economic public policies on tax evasion using panel data of 7 SAARC countries covering the period from 1998 to 2015. The study has applied the ordinary least square with fixed effect and random effect models to analyze the data assembled. The result of the study implies that the higher the degree of economic freedoms, the lower the tax evasion. More specifically, the government policies about property rights, monetary freedom, fiscal freedom and investment freedom have a negative influence on taxpayers' choices of tax evasion while financial freedom result shows a positive effect on tax evasion. Additionally, there is a negative impact of public sector governance and religiosity on tax evasion, which implies the higher the public sector governance and the higher the religious faith amid the people, the lower the degree of tax evasion. The findings of the study are supposed to offer the governments, tax authorities, and research scholars the valuable insights into public policies for reducing the tax evasion to a significant extent.

Since the empirical evidence on the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) and firm productivity is scarce in the context of the banking industry, the study examines whether CSRD leads banks in Bangladesh to higher productivity. Using annual report data of all 30 banks listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange in Bangladesh from 2011 to 2018, the study applied a data envelopment analysis (DEA) to determine the productivity of the sample banks, and then ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis to examine the impact of CSR on the banks’ productivity. Furthermore, the study utilized two-stage least squares (2SLS) and a generalized method of moments (GMM) to check the robustness of the findings amid the detection of endogeneity issues. The study also used several alternative variables to check and verify the reliability of the study. The findings indicate that the greater a bank’s contribution to CSR, the higher its productivity. However, banks with more debt to assets are less productive. Additionally, the study observed that the impact of CSRD on bank productivity is higher in GRI banks compared to non-GRI banks, non-politically connected banks as opposed to politically connected banks, and conventional banks compared to Islamic banks. The study provides valuable insight into how CSR activities can promote bank productivity, thus motivating the banks to execute a well-thought-out action plan to ensure more CSR contribution. This study is the first ever bank-level evidence that provides insight into how the patterns of CSR activity of publicly traded banks impact their productivity.

We explore the relationship between the degree of financial risk disclosure and a firm’s financial attributes. Financial risk disclosure indices (FRDIs) are calculated based on a set of 30 disclosure identifiers through content analysis of the annual reports of 48 manufacturing companies over a six-year period (2010–2015) in Bangladesh. We find no common practice among the companies in disclosing financial risk by integrating a customized financial risk disclosure into their financial reporting process. The results indicate that firm size, financial performance, and auditor type are positively and significantly associated with the level of financial risk disclosure.

Intellectual Capital (IC) stimulates corporate competitive advantages that can enhance firm performance and sustainable growth (SG). This study investigates IC’s affinity with and impact on accounting and market performance and SG of listed nonfinancial companies in Bangladesh. Data were collected from 69 nonfinancial companies for five years during 2017–2021, forming 345 observations. Modified Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (MVAIC) and steady-state models consecutively measured IC efficiency and Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). The Robust fixed effect model was applied to confirm the highest reliable results. Results of MVAIC, Intellectual Capital Efficiency (ICE), and Human Capital Efficiency (HCE) showed a positive affinity with and impact on firm performance and SGR. Structural Capital Efficiency (SCE) showed an insignificant association with and impact on explained variables, whereas Relational Capital Efficiency (RCE) showed a significant negative relationship with and impact on the same. Tangible capital employed efficiency (CEE) enhanced firm performance but failed to confirm sustainable growth. The findings help business executives, government, and policymakers formulate strategic plans for sustainable resource utilization and can create value, competitive edges, and survival for firms. The study recommends that corporate entities should strive to enhance their efficiency in internal structural resources and relational activities to achieve better firm performance and sustainable growth.

In light of agency and resource dependence theories, we explored the impact of ownership patterns on the likelihood of financial distress using 57 financial institutions (FIs) listed in Dhaka Stock Exchange and 390 firm years from 2016 to 2022. This study observed that 97.94% of the firms are in distress, 1.03% in gray, and 1.03% in the safe zone. Thus, the stability of FIs lags quite behind the expected standards. Multiple linear regression results show that director ownership is inversely associated with corporate failures, suggesting higher stakes of directors lower the risk of financial distress. When directors align their interests with those of firms by owning shares, it enhances firm performance and lowers the likelihood of failures. Also, institutional ownership negatively correlates with financial distress due to their active surveillance and focus on long-term performance. Besides, effective overseeing process of institutional investors works as a deterrent to making freaky decisions. Conversely, foreign ownership showed a positive affinity with financial distress. In Bangladesh, family dominance, lopsided influence, and political connections limit foreign investors’ ability to contribute to a firm’s long-term success. While most earlier studies in emerging economies showed financial resilience through the Altman Z-score, only a few have examined ownership patterns as a potential cause of firm bankruptcy. Considering ownership patterns as an explanatory variable of financial distress, this study discourses the corporate governance issues and resilience of FIs in an emerging economy.