Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices disclosure and firm value in the Egyptian context. This is done through investigating the influence of being listed and ranked in the Egyptian Corporate Responsibility Index on firm value during the period starting from 2007 to 2016. Design/methodology/approach: Using univariate and multivariate analyses, the findings support the economic benefits of ESG disclosures. Findings: The authors find that firms listed in the ESG index have higher firm value, and that there is a positive association between firms’ higher rankings in the index and firm value, as measured by Tobin’s q . Research limitations/implications: The findings provide feedback to regulators and standard-setters in the developing countries, and more specifically the Egyptian regulators, on the benefits associated with the introduction of the sustainability index (Standard & Poor’s (S&P)/EGX ESG index). This, in turn, clarifies how the government’s efforts to promote ESG provide benefits to publicly traded firms. Practical implications: By linking ESG to firm value, the ESG index will enable investors to take a leading role in inducing firms to enhance transparency and disclosure, and hence, improving their reporting standards. This, in turn, will ultimately result in improving sustainability and governance practices in Egypt. Social implications: The reported positive market reactions to social and governance practices disclosures can motivate firms to improve their social and governance performance. Originality/value: The study contributes to the literature by addressing the combined economic effects of social and governance disclosures on firm value, and by investigating the economic effects of such disclosures on firm value in an emerging market.

Purpose: This study aims to examine the combined impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings on the market and financial performance of Egyptian companies during the period from 2007 to 2016 and, thereby, determines the influence of the recent political revolutions –that broke out in the MENA region in early 2011 – on the association between ESG practices and corporate performance.Design/methodology/approach: The present work uses data from the S&P/EGX ESG index, which is the first of its kind in the MENA region. The ESG index is designed to increase the profile of companies listed on the Egyptian Exchange and is expected to boost the level and quality of ESG practices in the Egyptian context. The sample includes the 100 most active Egyptian companies in the Egyptian Stock Exchange as measured by the EGX 100 index in the financial year that ended in 2016. The sample begins in 2007, concurrent with the start of the ESG index, and ends in 2016. The period from 2007 to 2010 represents the pre-revolution period, and the period from 2012 to 2016 is the post-revolution period.Findings: Firms with high ESG ratings are found to enjoy a better financial and market performance. The authors found some evidence that the influence of ESG ratings on financial performance is more obvious after the revolutions than before the revolutions.Practical implications: This study provides insights regarding the impact of political events on the market in the Middle East region. Despite its increasing economic and political importance, this region still suffers from inadequate attention in the literature. The present work investigates the variances that evolved out of the events that started in early 2011 and the implications of these events on the market. The results of this study have implications for regulators and investors in the Egyptian stock market. The authors believe that the relatively new S&P/EGX ESG index provides a way to enhance ESG ratings in Egypt.Social implications: The results of the present study provide insights for policymakers regarding the usefulness of the sustainability indices.Originality/value: The present results contribute to the growing literature on the economic consequences of ESG ratings, especially in relation to a context characterized by intense political/revolutionary changes. In particular, this study contributes to the few works that have addressed the economic implications of ESG ratings in emerging markets.

This study explores how digital transformation affects the accounting and auditing profession and the quality of the accounting information system in governmental units in two developing contexts in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region—Egypt and Saudi Arabia. We collected data by electronically surveying governmental units’ employees in the two countries and analyzed them using linear regression analyses. Interestingly, we found a negative effect of digital transformation on the quality of accounting information systems, which could be interpreted concerning the premature status of digital technologies in emerging markets. However, the negative effect of digital transformation was lower in Egypt compared to Saudi Arabia. This study contributes to the literature by focusing on the governmental sector and investigating a new context—the MENA region—which has rarely been examined in previous studies. Further, it has implications for regulators in the public sector for developing governmental financial reports by supporting the digital transformation process.

This study examines the effect of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance on auditor choice and audit opinion for Egyptian-listed firms. We use univariate and multivariate analyses of 612 firm-year observations for a sample of 68 firms listed on EGX100 over 2014–2022 using binary logistic regression models. Consistent with the ethical perspective of corporate social responsibility, we found that firms listed in the ESG index are more likely to assign one of the Big4 auditors, and less likely to receive a qualified opinion. Through an additional analysis, we found that COVID-19 moderates the relationship between ESG performance, auditor choice, and audit opinion. Our results confirm the value of ESG performance for audit practices in emerging economies. This research indicates that ESG performance can enhance financial reporting quality. Further, it ensures that binding guidelines and regulations are crucial to oversee corporate ESG performance, especially during crisis times, and enhance investors’ protection and firms’ sustainability.

Consistent with Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SGG 5) concerned with gender equality, this study examines the relationship between Board Gender Diversity (BGD) and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) performance. In addition, it investigates the moderating role of governmental ownership concerning this relation by focusing on an emerging market. A sample of 71 Egyptian-listed companies on EGX100 during 2014–2019 has been examined. Both univariate and multivariate analyses are conducted to examine the relationship between BGD and ESG performance and the effect of governmental ownership on this relationship using OLS, 2SLS, and Logistic regressions. The results revealed a positive relation between BGD and ESG performance. In addition, we found that governmental ownership has a moderating effect on the relationship between BGD and ESG performance. This finding indicates that the effect of BGD on ESG performance in emerging markets is conditional on the governmental ownership, which provides a fertile environment for BGD to support ESG issues. The results add to the growing interest regarding the implications of BGD and governmental ownership for ESG performance in emerging economies. This study has significant implications for regulatory bodies, firms, and investors in emerging markets such as Egypt. It ensures that board gender diversity can enhance ESG performance in the case of governmental ownership. In addition, it highlighted the value of enforceable regulations on overseeing private firms’ ESG performance.

Purpose: This study investigates the effect of earnings management (EM) and institutional ownership (IO) on investment efficiency (IE). It also investigates the effect of IO, as a governance mechanism, on the relation between EM and IE. Design/methodology/approach: This study examines a sample of Egyptian firms listed on EGX100 during the period 2014–2019. The data are collected manually from firms’ annual reports and governance reports obtained from Egypt for Information Dissemination Company. We depend on the t-test, Pearson correlation, and OLS regression to test our hypotheses. Findings: The results revealed a negative relationship between EM and IE. In contrast, IO has a significant and positive effect on IE. The results also show that IO mitigates the negative implications of EM for IE. Additionally, we find robust evidence for the governance role of pressure-insensitive IO, as it has a positive effect on IE and on mitigating the negative effects of EM on IE. Originality/value: To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effect of IO as a governance mechanism on the relationship between EM and IE. The results of this study can be of interest to investors, regulators, and policy-makers due to highlighting the potential implications of EM and IO for firms’ investment decisions in Egypt–one of the important emerging markets in the Middle East and Africa.