This study analyzed the impact of sustainability reporting on firms’ growth as a result of adopting an environmentally and socially responsible behavior. The information published by companies listed on the main section of the Bucharest Stock Exchange during a period spanning six financial years (2012–2017) was used to assess the influence exerted by the conduct of activities related to sustainability; the integrated reporting of economic, social and environmental protection information; and the quality of published reports on certain indicators relevant to appreciating a firm’s growth (price-to-book ratio, sales growth and cost of capital). The results obtained indicate a low influence of sustainable reporting on a firm’s growth indicators. Current and potential investors, lenders and business partners interpret sustainability reporting as insufficiently documented and as having a low capacity for integration within the decision-making process. However, significant dependency relationships were identified, and particularized on various connections without following a correlation pattern between a firm’s growth directions and the indicators of sustainability reporting. The results remain robust even after the introduction of certain control variables, such as sustainability sensitive industry sectors, company size and age, or increase of investments. Our paper sets out to contribute to expanding the specialty literature by highlighting the involvement of sustainable reporting as a factor in optimizing firms’ growth strategies and, at a methodological level, by using a quantile regression.

We have estimated the impact of some characteristics of the auditors and of the audited companies on audit quality for the Romanian listed firms (943 observations for the 2007–2019 period), using as a proxy for the audit quality the level of discretionary accruals, measured following the Jones (1991) model, and the accruals quality, estimated through the Dechow and Dichey (2002) model. These dependent variables have been related to variables that reflect both the characteristics of the audit firm (for example, Big 4 membership) and the characteristics of the audited firms (dimension, financial leverage, accounting standards applied, growth and profitability). Our results show that the auditor’s Big 4 membership contributes to an increase in discretionary accruals, decreasing the quality of the audit. The transition to IFRS did not have a significant influence on the quality of the audit. The audit opinion may have an effect on the discretionary accruals and the accruals quality in the sense that a modified opinion leads to an increase in the quality of the audit in the following financial year(s).

This paper investigates, in an associative study, the value relevance of the comprehensive income in relation to that of net income, as a consequence of the application of IFRS in Romania, in companies whose securities are admitted for transactions on a regulated market, started with the fiscal year 2012. The paper also analyses in an empirical manner the influence of the Big 4 companies in the direction of improving the relevance of the reporting of the net income and of the comprehensive income for the investors on the financial market, the quality of audit being acknowledged, according to specialised literature, as a means for rendering the accounting figures more credible. The informational usefulness of the net income (pre-IFRS, 2011, and post-IFRS, 2012) and of the comprehensive income (post-IFRS, 2012) is examined on a sample of 65 companies quoted in the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The results of the empirical study confirm that the two categories of accounting results are significantly associated with the share price, reflecting an increased value relevance and usefulness for the investors on the Romanian financial market, after the adoption of the international accounting norms

In the decision-making process investors need quality financial information based on reported accounting numbers. Such numbers are present in financial statements and must meet a series of fundamental characteristics, such as relevance and faithful representation. The present paper aims to analyse and assess the value relevance of financial information on the financial market in India under the influence of the main country risk components (i.e. economic risk and freedom to set up businesses, corruption control, financial, fiscal, monetary and investment freedom). The research was carried out on a sample of companies listed on the regulated market in India between 2006 and 2014. The results of applying general linear models have shown that, over time, the country risk can have a significant influence on the value relevance of the financial statements reported at the financial market level.

The aim of the paper is to assess the effect of discretionary accruals on firm growth while controlling for firm characteristics and macroeconomic environment. Employing a large sample of 1.105 young and high-growth firms (gazelles) from 15 emerging European countries over the period 2006–2014, it has been found that the discretionary accruals negatively influence firm growth. The empirical results suggest that discretionary accruals are used as earnings management tools and this practice is more used over the high-growth period (2006–2009), with negative effects on future performance. Furthermore, the results of the quantile regression employed in the whole period suggest that the earnings management practices have a negative effect on firm growth. The results prove to be robust for different estimation approaches and different sub-samples of gazelles. The findings provide empirical evidence for the need for more detailed information provided by firms on the origin of the accruals, as well as for the use in the performance analysis of some indicators that eliminate the influence of accruals, such as cash flow based ratios. Keyword : firm growth, discretionary accruals, gazelles, emerging Europe, quantile regression, earnings management, private firms, macroeconomic environment

The paper analyzes the influence of sustainable growth (SGR) as a reflection of the manner of strategic business organization, particularly in the quality of reported financial information (magnitude of discretionary accruals—DAC) as an expression of the ethical attitude adopted by companies in the entity–investor relationship, on the investors’ decisions, substantiated in the performance level of the shares held. Using models consecrated in the literature, the results reflect a significant influence, both in the case of separate testing of the two factors (SGR and DAC), and in the case of the conjugated action thereof, on investment performance. The relations were also tested by introducing certain control variables into the analysis, such as: the intangible ratio, quick ratio, company size, as well as the SGR sensitivity function of the level of information quality. In the case of financial information quality, specific indicators from the two consecrated value relevance testing models by Ohlson (1995) and Easton and Harris (1991) were used as control variables. The obtained results are robust, preserving the sense and intensity of the influences. However, in the case of testing for the influence of information quality on share price, it was noticed an insignificant relation, associated with the situation in which, to execute some speculative transactions, investors particularly interpreted conjunctural factors. The study contributes to the development of the specialty literature by highlighting the role of internal growth and information quality as determinant factors in the investors’ analyses, while also offering a potentially practical tool for assessing the opportunity of making placements in the capital of companies.