Increased interest in sustainability and related issues has led to the development of disclosed corporate information on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Additionally, questions have arisen about whether these disclosures affect the firm’s value. Therefore, we conducted a bibliometric analysis coupled with a systematic literature review (SLR) of the current literature in the Scopus database from 2001 to 2023. We utilized VOS viewer, Site Space, and R Studio tools for this analysis. Our findings indicate that the relationship between ESG disclosures and the firm’s value has different effects and that disclosure impacts through various channels, such as increasing stakeholder trust. Moreover, the keyword analysis results before and after 2015 demonstrate significant advancement in the utilization of a theoretical foundation in the literature. Furthermore, China (Country), “Universidad de Salamanca” (University), “Uyar, Ali and García-Sánchez, Isabel-María” (Authors), and “Sustainability” and “Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management” (Journals) were the most contributing and influential in this field. On the other hand, the results revealed six thematic clusters: society, sustainable development, ESG, organization, innovation, and stakeholders. We found promising research paths and emerging themes through content analysis of these clusters, such as sustainability assurance, green innovation, and sustainable development goals (SDGs). This review concludes by providing a roadmap that includes emerging lines of research that can be explored in depth in future studies to promote better and more comprehensive integration to achieve sustainability and maximize firm value.

Purpose: Scholars have investigated the association between executives' incentives and earnings management. Most of the extant literature focuses on equity executives' incentives, while most of the earnings management literature focuses on accrual earnings management (AEM), not real earnings management (REM). This paper investigates the association between chief executive officers’ (CEOs) and chief financial officer (CFOs) cash compensation and REM and explores who has more influence on REM, the CEO or the CFO.Design/methodology/approach: The authors use the data of all listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges for the period from 2009 to 2017 and ordinary least squares regression as a baseline model and the Chow test to capture whether the CEO's or the CFO's cash compensation has more influence on REM. To address potential endogeneity issues, the authors use a firm-fixed effect technique and two-stage least squares regression.Findings: The authors find that CEOs' and CFOs' cash compensation is significantly associated with REM, suggesting that paying non-equity compensation to the CEO and CFO is negatively associated with REM. The authors also find that the CFO's cash compensation has a more significant influence on REM than the CEO's cash compensation, suggesting that the CFO's accounting and financial knowledge strengthens his or her power on the quality of financial reporting.Practical implications: The study contributes to the literature of agency and contract theories by using cash-based compensation to provide strong evidence that CEO's and CFO's compensation is associated with REM. It also contributes to the earnings management literature by examining the effect of CEOs' and CFOs' cash compensation on earnings management using proxies for REM-related activities. The study also contributes to the institutional theory by providing empirical evidence on the governance role of executives' cash compensation in deterring REM. Finally, it is the first to examine the relationship between CEO's and CFO's cash compensation and REM, and the first to explore who is more influential regarding REM in emerging markets, the CEO or the CFO.Originality/value: As a response to the call for investigations of the role of non-equity-based compensation in earnings management and the call to consider non-developed institutional contexts in governance research, this study extends prior studies by providing novel evidence on the relationship between CEOs' and CFOs' non-equity compensation and REM in China's emerging market. The study documents that the CFO has a greater influence on REM than the CEO does.

This article's goal is to investigate the connection between banking supervision (BakSup) and anti-money laundering (AnMeyLg). The study's hypothesized model was examined using a survey questionnaire research methodology. The Central Bank of Sudan and the compliance departments of Sudanese banks provided the information. Just 247 valid surveys were received out of a total distribution of 450 questionnaires. The partial least squares method for structural equation modeling was applied. The statistical findings supported the impact of banking supervision on anti-money laundering. In-depth discussions of the study's specifics and consequences were included at various points. There are several real-world applications of the findings of this study. Management can use the findings to guide their decisions on whether or not to establish anti-money laundering procedures in their banking firms. Banking supervision may provide managers with effective anti-money laundering strategies for maximizing bank performance and maintaining market share. This is one of the few empirical studies of its kind that looks at how banking supervision affects efforts to combat money laundering.

This study evaluates the efficiency of external auditors in combating money laundering in the Sudanese financial sector. It examines how auditors’ capabilities and characteristics influence their effectiveness in anti-money laundering (AML). Quantitative data were collected through a survey of 228 external auditors in Sudan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. Auditors’ skills in rigorous financial analysis and investigation significantly improve their AML performance. Additionally, a strong ethical orientation positively affects auditors’ effectiveness. However, practical experience did not enhance the detection of money laundering. Most notably, the adoption of advanced technologies and analytics tools had the strongest positive impact. The findings highlight the need for enhanced auditor training, greater investments in regulatory technology (RegTech), increased oversight of ethics, and expanded information-sharing between auditors, regulators, and financial institutions. This study provides unique empirical evidence on leveraging external auditors’ capabilities to combat money laundering, specifically within the Sudanese context. The research model demonstrated good explanatory power and predictive accuracy.