Annual financial reports are the best way to convey the financial situation of companies to different stakeholders. To fulfill their expected objectives, financial reports should be issued on time. The objective of this research is to study and investigate the effect of audit firm reputation and busyness on financial reporting timeliness of the nonfinancial companies listed on the Egyptian stock exchange (EGX), and whether this effect might differ according to client complexity and the floatation decision of the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound which took place at the end of 2016.Based on a sample of 820 firm-year observations during the period from 2017 to 2021, the researchers found empirical evidence that audit firm reputation has a negative and significant effect on financial reporting timeliness, while audit firm busyness contributes significantly towards issuing timelier financial reports. Furthermore, client complexity was proven to delay the issuance of financial reporting, however, the negative effect of client complexity on financial reporting timeliness is outweighed by the positive effect of small audit firm reputation. Additionally, the researchers didn’t find evidence concerning the moderating effect of client complexity on the relationship between audit firm busyness and financial reporting timeliness nor the moderating effect of the exchange rate floatation on the aforementioned relationships.This research adds empirical evidence to the literature focusing on the financial reporting quality in the developing countries and the audit related characteristics affecting financial reporting timeliness. It is of interest to academics, company management and stakeholders, auditors, and regulators.

This study examines how assurance level and assurer type jointly influence non-professional investors’ reactions to sustainability disclosures in an emerging market context. It employs a controlled 2 × 2 mixed-design experiment that manipulates assurance level (limited vs. reasonable) and assurer type (audit firm vs. non-audit firm). Data were collected from MBA and DBA students in Egypt as proxies for non-professional investors. Investor reaction is captured through multiple measures, including perceived sustainability performance, reliance on sustainability information, investment intention, stock valuation, and decision confidence. Non-parametric statistical techniques are used to test hypotheses, complemented by exploratory machine learning using SHAP values. The results provide strong and consistent evidence that the assurance level is the dominant factor shaping investor reactions. Reasonable assurance significantly enhances investor judgments across all key measures, whereas the type of assurer does not have a statistically significant independent effect. Additional analyses reveal that reasonable assurance from a non-audit firm elicits more favorable reactions than limited assurance from an audit firm, underscoring the primacy of assurance strength over provider identity. Exploratory findings further indicate that assurance influences investment decisions primarily through perceived sustainability performance and reliance on information. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the relative roles of assurance level and assurer type and providing novel evidence from an emerging market setting (i.e., Egypt). The findings offer important implications for firms, assurance providers, and regulators seeking to enhance the credibility and decision usefulness of sustainability reporting.

The objectives of this study are to illustrate the evolution of the audit-quality research discipline over the past forty years, determine whether this research discipline is expandable and, if so, what potential future research avenues need further examination, and understand the current knowledge structure of the audit-quality research discipline. To achieve these objectives, we employed bibliometric techniques (keyword-frequency and co-word analyses) to review a dataset of 1,831 articles extracted from the Scopus database between 1981 and 2021. A newly introduced keyword frequency tool (K-indicator) was used to measure the evolutionary stages of the audit-quality research discipline. We then employed co-word analysis visualizations to present the cognitive structure of the audit-quality field. The K-indicator revealed that audit quality had become a mature discipline with established concepts, keywords, and conclusions. Also, it indicated that despite extensive audit-quality research, there is room for further research. The co-word analysis showed that audit quality had reached a tight and coherent status from 1981 to the end of 2021. Co-word visualizations indicated that the audit-quality structure revolves around four main themes: auditor characteristics, client-related factors, audit-firm characteristics, and audit regulations. Therefore, the audit-quality research discipline concentrated on some specific elements and ignored others. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no similar study was conducted to determine whether the audit-quality notion is still researchable. Therefore, the results of this study would add much value to audit researchers, practitioners, and regulators.

Biodiversity loss is increasingly recognized as an environmental and financial risk, yet evidence remains limited on how biodiversity-related corporate disclosure influences individual investment decisions. This study examines how biodiversity disclosure affects environmental perceptions, financial risk perceptions, and portfolio allocation. A between-subjects experiment was conducted with 106 young Generation Z participants in Egypt, who allocated a hypothetical investment portfolio between a higher-return company and a lower-return alternative. Participants in the treatment condition received additional information indicating that the higher-return company’s supply chain contributes to biodiversity loss. Guided by the Situation–Actor–Process–Learning–Action–Performance (SAP–LAP) framework, the results show that biodiversity disclosure increased environmental salience (Cohen’s d = 0.72) and perceived biodiversity impact. At the same time, perceptions of the company’s long-term financial risk did not differ significantly between conditions. Portfolio allocation to the company associated with biodiversity impacts increased by 4.4 percentage points. However, the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.22). The findings indicate that biodiversity disclosure influenced environmental perceptions without producing a corresponding change in financial risk perceptions or portfolio allocation. The results highlight the distinction between recognizing ecological harm and incorporating biodiversity considerations into financial decision-making. Biodiversity disclosures that connect environmental impacts with financially material consequences may provide greater decision relevance for investors. The study contributes experimental evidence on individual responses to biodiversity information and identifies directions for future research using larger and more diverse samples, incentivized investment decisions, and alternative disclosure formats.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate whether board gender diversity (BGD) influences environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, while also examining the moderating role of institutional ownership on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 504 firm-year observations was obtained across 63 nonfinancial firms publicly traded within the Egyptian Exchange during 2015–2022. The empirical analysis was performed employing Pooled Ordinary Least Squares, while two-stage least squares regression was applied for alleviating possible issues of endogeneity. Findings: The study findings demonstrate a significant and positive effect of women in boardrooms on ESG outcomes. Furthermore, institutional ownership weakens this positive effect as a moderating variable. Remarkably, the COVID-19 outbreak led to enhanced ESG performance. The robustness of the study results is further reinforced by additional tests using different metrics for the key variables. Moreover, the findings reinforce critical mass theory. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first empirical analysis to investigate how institutional ownership moderates the relationship between women directors and ESG ratings in Egypt and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It also represents the first empirical attempt to examine COVID-19 as a moderating variable in this relationship and to apply the perspective of critical mass theory to explore the BGD–ESG nexus in Egypt.