Search results

This study aims to investigate the factors associated with the implementation of risk-based internal audit (RBIA).

As a first step, a literature review of the relevant literature is performed and five potential factors related to the implementation of RBIA are identified. Based on that, this paper constructs a questionnaire survey sent out to 185 internal auditors, executives and accountants in Greece to receive 90 responses during the period of November 2019–January 2020. Multiple regression analysis is conducted to identify the factors related to the implementation of RBIA.

This paper shows that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between the implementation of RBIA and: the provision of risk management training, an active audit committee role and the establishment of a formalized risk management system.

The results have important implications for internal auditors, chief executive officers and accountants who wish to enhance internal audit effectiveness and the accuracy and quality of financial information.

Empirical studies on the factors related to the implementation of RBIA are rare. This is the first study to create empirical variables based on a thorough review of the relevant literature to empirically investigate the factors that are related to the implementation of RBIA in an emerging economy. By focusing on the Greek context, this study also sheds light to other countries with similar corporate governance systems, thus providing insights to settings where the Type II agency problem exists (La Porta et al., 1999).

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of internal audit with respect to Auditing Corporate Governance Statements based on a practical approach. Moreover, it examines the application of internal control best practices in the Athens publicly listed firms based on a series of related statements.

The authors conducted all large and medium capitalization publicly listed companies via a research questionnaire which forms a basis of a descriptive research analysis. The methodology is based on the best worldwide acceptable practices as represented by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations internal control – integrated framework, as well as the relevant laws and regulations and best practices with respect to Corporate Governance Statements.

The research concludes that internal auditors limit their role in verifying compliance with the relevant laws and regulations rather than adopt a consulting role toward the improvement of the content and quality of Corporate Governance Statements information. Also, it contributes to the corporate governance research by verifying that the effectiveness of internal controls contributes to sound corporate governance practices.

Internal auditors depending on the organization they serve may adopt different roles regarding Corporate Governance Statements preparation, review and audit such as consultative which may add value to the quality of Corporate Governance Statements.

It is the first research regarding quality characteristics of the Corporate Governance Statements and the role of internal audit in Greece, and it provides the basis for further research among European Union countries.

In recent years, the principle of the “comply or explain” approach has become the trend in corporate governance statements that are not fully compliant with national codes. This is because managers of companies deviating from corporate governance codes try to be lawful, providing reasonable explanations; thus, they reach an impasse, copying explanations from other companies, in a mimetic behavior. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether companies listed in Greek Stock exchange tend to imitate one each other thus to be legitimate in terms of the “comply or explain: approach”.

This study focuses on the “comply or explain” approach in Greek listed companies, analyzing statements by 162 companies (80.2 per cent) listed on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), showing a total of 1,211 deviations from the national code. Therefore, the explanations were classified for analysis, grouping them into three main categories and investigating the degree of imitation.

In total, 96 companies deviating from the Code (56.3 per cent) provided explanations as to their legitimacy practices. Thus, the managers of these companies tried to explain their deviations from the national code in such a way that it could be considered that they tend to imitate each other, striving to be lawful.

Owing to Greece’s ongoing economic crisis, many companies listed on the ASE in previous years have suspended the trading of their shares. An examination of previous years may have led to biased results, owing to the different samples of companies. Another limitation concerns the number of companies in the sample; although it covers almost 80 per cent of listed companies, the actual number of companies is not big enough.

This study tries to investigate whether Greek listed companies comply with or deviate from the National Corporate Governance Code. For that purpose, context analysis was performed on 80.2 per cent of these companies (162 out of 202 companies) for the calendar year 2017. Most companies tried to explain their deviations from the Code in such a way that it could be considered that they tend to imitate each other.

Companies that deviate from the corporate governance code tend to imitate each other. This phenomenon occurs mainly in small companies, which, while striving to be lawful, even copy other companies’ phrases verbatim. This study reveals that managers of such companies care to provide an explanation for only deviations from the Code as a logical justification and not to capture the existing situation of their companies.

This study is the first to examine the mimetic behavior on corporate governance statements in Greece. Although the trend of imitation is a fact in developed economies, similar studies never took place on emerge economies. This study contributes to the literature by examining whether the trend of mimetic behavior exists in emerging economies as well.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and shareholder wealth in the context of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) before and during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

This paper uses a sample of 889 completed M&As announced by US firms between 1 January 2018 and 31 July 2020. Announcement abnormal returns are estimated using an event study methodology and the relation of ESG performance to shareholder value creation is tested with univariate and multivariate cross-sectional regressions.

This study provides evidence for a significant negative value effect of ESG performance for the shareholders of acquiring firms during the entire sample period. The negative effect appears to be stronger, as the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. This suggests that, during the pandemic-driven economic turmoil, the costs of sustainability activities outweigh any possible gains, providing evidence in support of the overinvestment hypothesis.

The results of the study have important implications for firms, investors and policymakers. Firms should be more cautious with regard to extensive investments in ESG activities, particularly during economic turmoil. For shareholders, the results suggest that ESG engagement is not a resilience factor in an exogenous shock such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of policymaking, the sustainability disclosure framework should remain voluntary allowing firms to report material ESG-related issues. The main limitation of the study is related to data availability regarding ESG performance.

To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the effect of ESG performance on shareholder value in the market for corporate control before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Governments count on tax revenues in order to finance their fiscal and social activities. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the citizens’ conception of tax compliance and examine the factors affecting tax behaviour.

This survey was conducted through a stratified sample and questionnaires consisted of closed-ended questions. A linear regression and a series of reliability tests including an analysis of variance were conducted with IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences.

The majority of the respondents demonstrate a positive perspective towards tax compliance and tax administration employees that inspire it. However, while the fairness of the tax system is evident, findings indicate a deeper issue of social and behavioural influences, including the characteristics of tax administrative employees and tax morality.

The findings are subject to over- or sub-representation, since the sample derived from groups whose occupations feature strong tax compliance. The study was conducted in Greece, and it is possible that the results can be generalised to developing countries with similar economic environments and fiscal circumstances.

Non-economic factors affect tax behaviour and the formation of modern tax strategies. This survey enables governments to improve tax compliance rates and increase tax revenues. Fiscal depression tends to decrease state revenues. Tax compliance factors should be taken into account through tax decision-making processes and ensure efficient tax collection.

This paper furthers the existent literature and deepens in non-economic factors of morality, revealing tax behaviours instigated by reasons beyond tax unfairness.

The aim of this study is to examine continuous auditing in the digital age from the perspective of audit firm employees. It also investigates contemporary factors affecting continuous auditing, as well as the techniques that could be utilised for its implementation.

Internal audit departments of private companies were contacted via email and given a questionnaire developed based on the extant literature. The sample consisted of 105 individuals employed in the largest audit institutions in Greece. Data were analysed using multiple regression.

As expected, technological advances are indispensable for the establishment of an effective digital auditing system. The impact of data protection measures against cyber-attacks as well as employees' skills and training were found to be significant. Particular attention should be given to the preparation and building of virtual auditing teams.

The fact that the digital era is still nascent with its final outcomes not yet visible makes it difficult to produce accurate predictions and draw conclusions. Further, there is a need to survey salient stakeholders in other country contexts beyond Greece pursuant of producing generalisable results.

The actions taken by companies to ensure cyber security and the formation of virtual teams were found to be highly significant for the implementation of a real-time auditing process. Traditionally, factors such as cost and time play an important role in optimising internal continuous auditing. Technological advancements combined with careful, strategic and case-specific implementation have the potential to enhance the efficacy of older methods.

The positive propensity of staff to adopt technology and modern techniques illustrates how implementation difficulties can be overcome through the redefinition and scheduling of an organisation's objectives and training of its personnel.

Audit firm employees highlighted the protection of personal data, the avoidance of cyber-attacks and training as major continuous internal auditing goals. The results indicate acceptance towards technology and modern techniques, provided companies ensure adequate preparation and staff training conditions.

The purpose of this study is to identify, recap and evaluate the state-of-the-art linkage between International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and earnings management (EM).

A bibliometric analysis of 249 publications from the Web of Science (WoS) database was carried out, employing both the techniques of performance analysis and science mapping and the Bibliometrix R and VOSviewer tools.

The results of the performance analysis suggest that the publication and citation trends of the interplay of the IFRS and EM fields show an upward trend over time that most of the influential institutions emanate from the US and a significant percentage of articles published in this field emanate from high-quality journals. Science mapping via co-authorship analysis elucidates that more collaborative efforts among authors are needed in the future in this field. Bibliographic coupling analysis bifurcates the studies into six clusters and reveals the major themes and their evolution. Co-word analysis unfolds emerging trends that could be further explored, thus becoming possible future research avenues.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, no other study has attempted a bibliometric analysis of research on the relationship between IFRS and EM. This article fills this research gap and makes its contribution to the scientific community by presenting recent developments in this body of knowledge and suggesting future research avenues.

This study reviews post-2009 literature on public sector internal auditing (IA) and addresses three interrelated research questions (RQ): How is research on the public sector IA being developed? What are the focus and criticisms of the literature on public sector IA? What is the future of public sector IA research?

We adopt a systematic literature review approach and analyze 78 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2010 and 2019. We evaluate five criteria to identify the development of public sector IA research (RQ1), namely level of government, academic discipline, number of countries, geographic areas and MSCI country classification. Similarly, we use four criteria to present the focus and criticisms of the literature (RQ2), namely, type of organizational respondent, research instrument, theories and research theme examined. Finally, we use two criteria to propose new directions for future research (RQ3), namely, the directions resulted from RQ1 and RQ2 and the directions highlighted by the 10 most cited studies in the IA literature (i.e. out of the 78 papers identified).

We find an increase of publications up to 2017, most of which are single country–focused, particularly on emerging markets. Moreover, we note that IA has been studied at all government levels, most often at the local government level. Although we identify multiple research themes examined in the literature, most studies emphasize “governance” and “operational effectiveness” using quantitative analysis, without reference to any theory. By analyzing these key features, we critically interpret the challenges as well as the skepticism that may surface by researchers. Finally, considering implications from this stream of research and analyzing the most influential studies, we recommend new avenues for investigation such as comparative studies among countries and different markets that provide further evidence on the international and regional levels and studies on the effect of cultural, institutional and demographical characteristics in IA.

Our results will help researchers, practitioners and consultants to identify the key issues related with IA.

This study is the first to provide a systematic literature review on public sector IA. Furthermore, it develops insights, critical reflections and avenues for future research in this field.

Most non-financial companies in Greece do not have an ERM function nor present one in their organizational charts. The enterprise risk management is still more theory than practice even for companies that have embraced it so far, and in general the enterprise risk management seems to be at its infancy in Greece with only some prominent and mature organizations showing the way forward. The aim of this study is to provide some reflections about risk disclosure in annual reports and accounting practices in Greece. Although companies in Greece do seem reluctant to apply ERM, during last years, non-financial information demonstrated to emerge within financial statements and annual reports, giving a broader perspective to risk.