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This study aims to investigate the impact of ownership structure and board structure on risk-taking as measured by research and development (R&D) Intensity in OECD countries.

A panel data of 300 companies from Anglo American and European countries between 2010 and 2016 were used. The ordinary least square multiple regression analysis procedure is used to examine the relationships. The findings are robust to alternative measures and endogeneities.

The results show that institutional ownership, board size, independent directors and board diversity are negatively related to risk-taking, with greater significance among Anglo American countries than among Continental European countries. In contrast, the results show that director ownership is statistically insignificant.

This study extends and contributes to the extant corporate governance (CG) literature, by offering new evidence on the effect of ownership and board structure on risk-taking between two different traditions. The findings will help regulators and policy-makers in the OECD countries in evaluating the adequacy of the current CG reforms to prevent management misconduct and scandals. These findings are relevant for companies aiming to adopt the most suitable governance mechanisms to pursue their R&D objectives and for policymakers interested in promoting R&D investment.

This study aims to examine the impact of board structure on risk-taking measured by research and development (R&D) intensity in OECD countries.

The study uses a panel data of 200 companies on Forbes global 2000 over the 2010-2014 period. It uses the ordinary least square multiple regression analysis techniques to examine the hypotheses.

The results show that the frequency of board meetings and board size are significantly and negatively related to risk-taking measured by R&D intensity, with a greater significance among Anglo-American countries than among Continental European countries. The rationale for this is that the legal and accounting systems in the Anglo American countries have greater protection through greater emphasis on compliance and disclosure, and therefore, allowing for less risk-taking.

Future research could investigate risk-taking using different arrangements, conducting face-to-face meetings with the firm’s directors and shareholders.

The results suggest that better-governed firms at the firm- or national-level have a high expectancy of less risk-taking. These results offer regulators a resilient incentive to pursue corporate governance (CG) and disclosure reforms officially and mutually with national-level governance. Thus, these results show the monitoring and legitimacy benefits of governance, resulting in less risk-taking. Finally, the findings offer investors the opportunity to build specific expectations about risk-taking behaviour in terms of R&D intensity in OECD countries.

This study extends and contributes to the extant CG literature, by offering new evidence on the effect of board structure on risk-taking. The findings will help policymakers in different countries in estimating the sufficiency of the available CG reforms to prevent management mishandle and disgrace.

This article aims to investigate the impact of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms on cost of capital (COC) in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

Companies from 34 OECD countries were used between 2010 and 2017. Multiple regression analysis techniques is used to examine the relationships. The findings are robust to alternative measures and endogeneities.

The results show that CG index and director ownership are statistically negatively related to COC. In contrast, the results show that block ownership is statistically related to COC.

This study extends, as well as contributes to the extant CG literature by offering new evidence on the effect of CG mechanisms on COC. The findings will help regulators and policymakers in the OECD countries in evaluating the adequacy of the current CG reforms to prevent management misconduct and scandals.

This study aims to investigate the impact of the board’s financial expertise (BFE) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in China.

Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2009-2016 (making 3272 firm-year observations), this study uses the generalized method of moments (GMM) and panel data estimation techniques.

Using the resource dependence theory, the findings of this study are twofold. First, the is positively associated with the disclosure level of CSR. Second, this positive impact is more pronounced in firms with female CEO and state ownership. The findings are robust to the potential issues of endogeneity and sensitivity analyses.

Practically, the findings hold value for the senior management of Chinese firms to ensure the presence of financial experts in boards to yield both financial and non-financial outcomes.

This study points out how financial experts on boards influence the societal outcomes via disclosure of CSR. Financial experts encourage participation in social and sustainable practices which creates a positive image of the firm not only in the eyes of society but also for investors.

This study is unique and contributes to the extant literature by examining the impact of a new attribute, i.e. the BFE on the level of CSR disclosure in China.

This study aims to investigate two important research questions. First, this research examines the impact of real earnings management on investment inefficiency of the non-financial listed firms in Pakistan. Second, this research further explores the moderating role of short-term debt on the nexus between real earnings management and investment inefficiency. This study attempts to highlight an important research problem i.e. the jinx of real earnings management from the context of an emerging economy.

This study employs the data from non-financial listed firms in Pakistan over the period from 2008 to 2018. The study uses panel data methodologies with firm and year fixed-effects to examine the proposed hypotheses. The results are robust to the use of sensitivity analysis, different estimation techniques and endogeneity issues (using two-stage least squares (2SLS) and generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques).

The results of the research are twofold. First, consistent with the theoretical arguments, the findings reveal that real earnings management increases investment inefficiency and results in over-investments by the firms. Second, short-term debt attenuates the relationship between real earnings management and investment inefficiency. It implies that a higher level of short-term debt weakens the adverse effects of real earnings management on the investment efficiency of the firm.

This study offers original findings on the issues pertaining to the quality of accounting and financial reporting in an emerging economy like Pakistan, where the implementation of regulations is weak in the corporate world and management frequently exploits shareholders' wealth for the short-term benefits.

To investigate the impact of tax enforcement on (a) debt aggressiveness (DEA) and (b) dynamic adjustment of capital structure in Chinese listed firms.

The authors estimate the target capital structure by employing the different models. This study uses data of Chinese A-share listed firms from year 1998 to 2015.

The study suggests that the greater the intensity of tax enforcement, the more radical the listed companies' debt policy. The macroeconomic status and nature of property rights have significant moderating effect on the positive relationship between tax enforcement and DEA of listed companies. Further, tax enforcement has a significant impact on the dynamic adjustment of capital structure.

Research conclusions are conducive to tax administration departments to understand the economic consequences of tax enforcement and further promote tax administration efficiency. Additionally, listed companies can rationally adjust their capital structure to strengthen tax enforcement.

This research helps extend the influencing factors of corporate debt decision-making and capital structure dynamic adjustment to the level of tax enforcement and provide new evidence on the effects of tax enforcement on corporate capital structure.

This study aims to examine the impact of internal corporate governance mechanisms on insurance companies’ risk-taking in the UK context.

The study uses a panel data of all listed insurance companies on FTSE 350 over the 2005-2014 period. Multivariate regression techniques are used to estimate the effect of internal corporate governance mechanisms on insurance companies’ risk-taking.

The results show that the board size and board meetings are significantly and negatively related to risk-taking. In contrast, the results show that board independence and audit committee size are statistically insignificant but negatively related to risk-taking. The findings are robust to alternative measures and endogeneities.

The findings have important implications for investors, managers, regulators of financial institutions and effectiveness of corporate governance reforms that have been pursued. Investors may further rely on internal corporate governance attributes to form expectations about risk-taking behaviour. Insurance companies need strong governance, as well as effective accounting and financial reporting standards, to enable proper insights into the company’s financial position.

This study contributes to the corporate governance literature and creates significant evidence regarding the role of corporate governance in constraining risk-taking behaviour in an industry with significantly complex context.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on the cost of capital in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

A panel data of 240 companies from Anglo-American and European countries between 2010 and 2017 were used. The ordinary least-squares multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationships. The results were also robust to alternative measures and endogeneities.

The results showed that the corporate governance index and director ownership were negatively related to the cost of capital. Moreover, the study also reports a positive correlation between block ownership and the cost of capital.

This study extended the corporate governance literature by offering new evidence on the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on the cost of capital. Our findings will help regulators and policymakers in the OECD countries to evaluate the adequacy of the current corporate governance reforms to prevent management misconduct and scandals.

This study aims to investigate the impact of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms on financial risk reporting in the UK.

The study uses a panel data of 50 non-financial firms belonging to 10 industrial sectors listed on the London Stock Exchange in the period 2011-2015. Multivariate regression techniques are used to examine the relationships.

The findings of this study reveal that CG has a significant influence on financial risk disclosure. Specifically, it is found that block ownership and board gender diversity have a positive effect on the level of corporate financial risk disclosure (FRD). While there is no significant relationship between board size and corporate FRD.

This study has significant implications for policy-makers, investors and regulators. Evidence of growing FRD implies that efforts by several stakeholders have had some positive impact on the level of FRD in the firms examined. Examples of such changes include, namely, increasing board size and gender diversity acting as effective firm level advisors and monitors of FRD. As a consequence, regulators and policymakers should continually pursue reforms to encourage firms to follow CG principles that are promoted as good practice.

This study adds to the emerging body of literature on CG–risk disclosure relationships in the UK context using content analysis. The study also highlights that gender diversity enhances FRD.

The purpose of this study is to investigate Egyptian auditors’ ethical reasoning, to understand whether auditors’ ethical reasoning is influenced by audit firm size and/or auditor’s position.

This paper draws on 178 questionnaires that include six different ethical scenarios. This paper also uses the accounting ethical dilemma instrument that is developed by Thorne (2000) to measure the ethical reasoning of Egyptian auditors.

The findings are threefold. First, this study finds that the general level of deliberative ethical reasoning of auditors working in the Central Auditing Organization (CAO) and small firms are categorized in the post-conventional level, while auditors working in big and medium firms are categorized in conventional level. Second, the result suggests that there is a negative relationship between ethical reasoning and audit firm size in Egypt. Finally, the results show that ethical reasoning levels decrease when the position of auditors increase except for auditors working in CAO.

This study adds to the scarce literature in developing countries that measure auditors’ ethical reasoning. The findings suggest that auditors’ ethical reasoning depends on auditor’s firm size and the position the auditor holds within the firm. These findings will aid policymakers and regulators, especially in developing countries, to avoid any potential risk regarding professional misconduct and in evaluating the adequacy of the current code of ethics.