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This study aims to investigate the opacity of bank assets because of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 9 implementation. It highlights that the Asian-Pacific countries’ banking industries are experiencing economic volatility. In other words, it examines information asymmetries because of the standards requiring a mechanistic treatment. Thus, this focuses on the tragedy of the commons (ToTC) caused by the implementation of the standard.

This research selects a sample of banking firms in the Asia-Pacific region from 2010 to 2021. Furthermore, it examines the impacts of IFRS 9’s implementation on earnings forecasts and share-return conveyances. This research first uses the OLS regression for examining the bank assets’ opacities, which may affect future earnings and information conveyancing. Second, it arranges these opacities, earnings and stock returns with the 2-SLS regression to find the staging associations because of hierarchical relevances.

This study finds that bank assets’ opacity is caused by a standard’s implementation, which is a ToTC, and this study signifies its first occurrence. Simultaneously, it recognises an information asymmetry because of the implemented procedural calculation mandated by the standard. Furthermore, these opacities affect future earnings and information conveyancing that inherited information asymmetries, which have affected them as the second ToTC. Finally, current and future earnings as a consequent impact of asset opacity are recursively associated with stock return conveyancing as the third ToTC.

This study demonstrates hierarchical information about bank asset opacities, starting by recognising and measuring them in financial statements. Then, these recognised and measured asset opacities are associated with current and future earnings, ending on the ordinarily and staged influencing of stock return conveyancing. Moreover, it reveals hierarchical information in the direct-ordinarily and staged associations among bank asset opacities, earnings and return conveyances. Thus, these associations are valid and occur because of the mandates of the standard’s measurement.

The paper analyzes the impact of bank opacity on financial stability in an emerging economy.

Based on a unique dataset of 31 Vietnamese commercial banks from 2007 to 2019, the paper captures earnings opacity via discretionary loan loss provisions and reflects individual bank stability through the accounting-based Z-score index and its disaggregate components. The least squares dummy variable corrected (LSDVC) approach is employed for empirical analysis.

In contradiction to most studies on developed economies, earnings management improves bank financial stability in Vietnam. Earnings management is more important for the financial stability of smaller banks. Further, the effect of financial information disclosure on bank stability is strengthened by unfavorable macroeconomic conditions, particularly economic downturns, the global financial crisis and uncertain times in banking.

This is the first study to shed light on how bank opacity influences bank financial stability in an emerging market. The evidence with the conditioning roles of bank size and macroeconomic factors, such as uncertainty in banking, is entirely novel in the related literature. Additionally, the paper contributes to a growing body of banking literature by using the LSDVC estimator to examine the association between bank opacity and bank stability.

This study aims to investigate the effect of income and asset diversification on earnings management using discretionary loan loss provisions (LLP) in banks, and the role of risk level in mediating this effect.

A sample of banks operating in Middle East and North Africa countries was used to test the mediation model of Baron and Kenny (1986) with different measures of diversification and risk.

The results show that bank income and asset diversification have unique and combined effects on earnings management. The results also support the idea that a risk-mediating effect contributes to explaining this relationship among banks. Specifically, bank diversification strategies positively affect LLP-based earnings management by increasing bank risk. This result is relevant for conventional banks. However, only a direct and positive effect of diversification strategies on LLP-based earnings management can be observed in Islamic banks, and the indirect effect is not supported.

This study extends previous research by examining the unique and combined effects of income and asset diversification strategies on earnings management in the banking sector. Specifically, it provides new evidence that diversification strategies increase LLP-based earnings management, both directly and indirectly, through bank risk.

This study aims to inspect the impact of earnings quality on corporate cash holdings of Jordanian companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange.

This study examines a large sample of (98) Jordanian companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange during the period that ranges from 2009 to 2019. Earnings quality was computed using two different methods; firstly, through the absolute abnormal discretionary accruals (as an inverse measure of earnings quality), which were estimated using the Dechow et al.’s (1995) cross-sectional version of the Modified Jones model and the Kothari et al. (2005) model; and secondly, through earnings persistence as a direct measure of earnings quality.

The empirical results of this study reveal that poor accounting quality (high levels of abnormal discretionary accruals) is associated with higher levels of cash holdings, implying that as the quality of earnings decreases, the harmful effects of information asymmetry and adverse selection costs will increase, leading, therefore, Jordanian companies to increase their corporate cash holdings levels to act as a buffer against any cash shortages. Further, the authors document that higher accounting quality (more persistent earnings) is associated with lower levels of cash holdings. In addition, this study found that earnings quality negatively and significantly affects the cash holdings of profitable companies in Jordan. Thus, earnings quality appeared to be a significant determinant of cash holdings for profit-making companies but not for companies enduring losses.

This study contributes to the limited evidence that investigates the relationship between earnings quality and corporate cash holdings. Where the majority of previous studies have focused on developed economies, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first in Jordan to comprehensively explore the relationship between earnings quality, computed by the absolute abnormal discretionary accruals and earnings persistence, and corporate cash holdings. Also, it is the first to explore the nature of the earnings quality-cash holding nexus in loss-making companies compared with their profit-making counterparts to the best of the authors’ knowledge. The results of this study have important policy implications for managers, creditors, investors and academics in Jordan and other emerging economies that share similar characteristics.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of the revised Code of Corporate Governance 2017 (CCG-2017) clauses pertaining to board independence, mandatory inclusion of female directors, audit committee (AC) chair independence and directors’ expertise on earnings manipulation.

Using an unbalanced panel of 323 listed companies from 2015 to 2019, this study uses panel data regression models with a robust methodology called difference-in-differences to tackle the potential endogeneity.

This study’s findings show that, as compared to the pre-CCG-2017 period, board- and AC-related variables increased significantly in the post-CCG-2017 period. Furthermore, financial experts on the board and board independence have a negative effect on discretionary accruals (DAs), whereas female directors and DAs are positively related, as is real activity manipulation. The AC-related variables, such as AC independence, expertise in AC, and AC chair independence, are significantly different from the preperiod to the postperiod, whereas their relationship is not according to the hypotheses of the study. Moreover, these results are robust to additional analysis of the alternative proxies for female directorship and the endogeneity problem.

The findings of this study have implications for regulators and practitioners who are concerned with the functions of the board of directors (BOD). The findings of this research study show that earnings management (EM) may be reduced by independent and expert directors. However, board gender diversity is not reducing the EM. Therefore, the decision to appoint female directors to the board should be based on their business and professional attributes rather than simply filling quotas or blindly adhering to regulations. Moreover, the findings of this research may assist the regulator in encouraging listed firms to enhance board governance via independence, diversity and competency, which are useful for effective monitoring.

This study fills a gap in the literature by providing the first evidence of country-specific regulation (CCG-2017), concerning the BOD and AC-related clauses on EM in Pakistan, which is missing in the relevant literature general and in Pakistan in particular.

This study aims to analyze the relationship between economic complexity (EC) and the green economy (GE) with the real and accrual earnings management (REM and AEM) of the listed companies on the Iranian stock exchange. The authors study whether EC and the GE can affect REM and AEM.

The authors used a multiple regression model based on the panel data and a fixed effect model to test hypotheses. The sample includes 1,351 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2014 to 2021.

The results show a positive and significant relationship between EC and the GE with REM and AEM.

Considering the importance of a GE and since this research is the first to address the mentioned topic in emerging markets, it provides helpful insights for financial statement users, analysts and legal entities. Our study fills the literature gap and promotes knowledge regarding its relevant literature. Examining this relationship portrays the latest research perspectives in this field. The information from this study can assist in environmental management decision-making and relevant policymaking, promoting the movement toward sustainable development.

This study aims to investigate the effect of intangible capital (e.g. intangible investments and research and development (R&D) expenditures) on future profitability in an emerging economy and the moderating role of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) for companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange.

To this aim, information about 210 companies during 2014–2021 was collected. This study calculated EPU based on the inflation rate, interest rate, exchange rate and economic growth.

The results showed that both R&D expenditures and other intangible investments positively affect future profitability. Moreover, EPU decreases the positive effect of R&D expenditures and other intangible investments on future profitability. Hypothesis testing based on ordinary least squares and generalized method of moments regressions confirmed these results. This study emphasizes the urgent need to adjust how they operate the business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The nature and degree of intangible assets and R&D expenditures in firms in emerging markets is an interesting area of research. However, empirical studies in this area have not led to any unanimous conclusion in emerging markets. Moreover, intangible assets and R&D expenditures become very important in the economy affected by the financial crisis and conditions of uncertainties. In light of the COVID-19 crisis, significant changes occurred at all levels and affected accounting-related issues, and the present study highlighted COVID-19. The findings of this research will not only help the managers of companies in developing countries but also, because of the dearth of similar research, they can help managers in developed countries and the global community.

This study examines the importance of income income-shifting arrangements of US multinational corporations (MNCs) on future stock price crash risk.

This study employs a sample of 7,641 corporation-year observations over the 2005–2017 period and uses ordinary least squares regression analysis.

The authors find that the income-shifting arrangements of MNCs are positively and significantly associated with stock price crash risk after controlling for corporate tax avoidance and other known determinants of stock price crash risk in the regression model. This result is robust to alternative measures of stock price crash risk and income-shifting, and several endogeneity tests. The authors also observe that income-shifting arrangements increase stock price crash risk both directly and indirectly through the information opacity channel. Finally, in cross-sectional analyses, the authors find that the positive association between income-shifting and stock price crash risk is more pronounced for MNCs that use tax haven subsidiaries and have weak corporate governance mechanisms.

The authors provide new empirical evidence that MNCs will likely face significant capital market consequences regarding their income-shifting arrangements.

This study aims to examine the correlation between the readability of financial statements and the likelihood of future stock price crashes in nonfinancial companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange. It further explores the possible moderating effect of audit quality on this relationship.

The study uses ordinary least squares regression, generalized least squares estimation and two-stage least squares methodology to examine and validate the research hypotheses. The sample comprises 107 nonfinancial companies registered on the Egyptian Stock Exchange from 2016 to 2019.

The results reveal a significant negative association between the readability of financial statements and stock price crash risk. This suggests that companies with more complex financial statements tend to experience higher future crash risks. Additionally, the study identifies audit quality as a significant moderating factor. Higher audit quality, often indicated by engagements with Big-4 audit firms, strengthens the influence of financial statements readability on stock price crash risk. This implies that while high audit quality enhances investor confidence and market stability, it also accentuates the negative consequences of complex financial statements.

The findings of this paper have significant implications for regulators and standard-setting bodies in Egypt. They should consider refining and revising existing standards to emphasize the importance of enhancing the readability of financial reports. Additionally, auditing firms should actively engage in efforts to ensure clearer and more transparent financial reporting. These actions are vital for boosting investor confidence, strengthening Egypt’s capital market and mitigating potential risks associated with information opacity and complexity.

This study represents a pioneering endeavor within the Arab and Egyptian financial environments. To the best of the author’s knowledge, it is the first examination of the association between the readability of financial statements and stock price crash risk in these contexts. Furthermore, it explores factors such as audit quality that may influence this connection.

This study examines how bilateral international trade among mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adopter countries moderates the relation between IFRS adoption and firms’ financial reporting quality.

The authors use data from 2007 to 2015 and focus on publicly listed firms from non-European Union countries that adopted IFRS on a mandatory basis.

The authors find that the interaction between mandatory IFRS adoption and a country’s bilateral trade with other countries using IFRS is negatively and significantly related to accruals-based earnings management, which is an inverse measure of financial reporting quality. This result is driven by firms in less developed countries. The improvement in accounting quality is for firms located in countries that both fully and partially adopt IFRS. The authors also find a significant and negative coefficient for the relation between real earnings management and the interaction between mandatory IFRS adoption and a country’s bilateral trade with other IFRS countries in the post-global financial crisis period.

Overall, the authors’ results are consistent with the notion that the mandatory adoption of IFRS creates a positive externality where firms improve their accounting quality because increased financial statement comparability means that foreign customers and suppliers can monitor the quality of earnings more easily.