This research investigates the role of women as a moderator variable in the relationship between governance and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance during the COVID-19 crisis. Using the sample of firms from five Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, the results show that the presence of women in a board structure has a positive impact on ESG performance during the normal era. However, the woman board members have not proven to strengthen the relationship between governance and ESG performance during the COVID-19 era. This could be caused by the fact that in the COVID-19 era, firms need to concentrate more on short-term profit to survive. However, we believe their presence will improve the company’s reputation and speed up the firm’s recovery during times of crisis.

This research ran to examine the effect of Integrated Report (IR) on Information Asymmetry (IA) and the Cost of Equity (COE) of companies. The sample companies were those registered in the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) database from 2013 to 2015. The test results using multiple linear regression proved that IR affected IA negatively and that each part of IR, namely Guiding Principles and Content Elements, had a direct negative impact. The higher IR, the lower both IA and COE. The results of this study may contribute on the increasing information quality in Indonesia.

This study investigated the effect of corporate governance on corporate risk management. By using the regression analysis method, different results on the effects of the variables independent commissioners, female commissioners, meeting frequency, and audit committee members’ expertise background on corporate risk management were obtained. In addition, companies in Singapore that had high levels of risk management activities were found to experience faster recovery after the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to other countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines). Overall, this study concludes that corporate governance has an important role in improving the risk management activities of a firm. This study may serve as a consideration for corporate governance implementation to improve corporate risk management.