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The synthesis and chemistry of nitrogen heterocyclic azo compounds have been extensively studied. Many derivatives of this type were proved to be excellent dyes. Presents a systematic and comprehensive survey of all recently synthesised nitrogen heterocyclic azo dyes according to dyeing methods.

Audit rotation (AR) is a key policy initiative implemented in global jurisdictions to deal with concerns about audit quality. Auditing financial reports involves communicating attested value-relevant company information to investors, and hence audit quality plays a role in the quality of financial reporting information. This paper aims to investigate whether AR affects the degree of information asymmetry (IS) between investors. It further aims to examine whether voluntary AR results in less asymmetric information compared to mandatory AR. Additionally, it examines whether political connections moderate the association between AR and IS.

The authors use data from publicly traded banks across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the period 2010–2018. The authors include several variables to control for corporate governance and other firm-specific characteristics by using country-year fixed-effects regression model.

The authors find higher IS for banks that periodically rotate auditor, while banks voluntarily choose to rotate auditors obtain high-quality audits, which results in higher trading volume and lower stock return volatility, hence lower IS. The results suggest that when banks voluntarily choose to rotate auditors, investors perceive these banks as more committed to obtaining high-quality audits relative to mandatory AR. Providing higher quality audits enhances the credibility of reported information and thus reduce the level of IS. Moreover, IS following AR is higher for politically connected banks than for similar but politically unconnected banks. Finally, investors perceive voluntary AR as a disciplining tool, which mitigates IS. This mitigating role is not affected by bank political connectedness.

This study has limitations as the definition of AR could be interpreted as binary or too narrow, and hence it may not be appropriate to generalize findings to different contexts. Nonetheless, this study casts light on a new perspective to reconcile the existing mixed evidence on the influence of AR on IS and the moderating role of political connections. A further limitation is that because of data unavailability, the authors were unable to use other proxies (e.g. bid-ask spreads and analyst forecast dispersion) of IS.

The present findings provide insight to regulators, policymakers and standard setters on the potential adverse effect of political connections on the role of AR in mitigating IS. The results underscore the importance of voluntary AR, and suggest that regulators, policymakers and standard setters encourage firms to rotate their auditors periodically.

This study provides evidence in a setting that is unique at the economic, social and regulatory levels. Prior literature is lacking and has been centered on developed countries or focusing on single-country specifications. The data set of this study is unique and allows us to examine the interplay between political influence that arises through ownership and management roles of influential members of state.

Motivated by recent financial liberalization policies in emerging markets, this study investigates whether bank competition and regulatory capital affect bank risk taking in an international banking context.

Bank competition is regressed, using GLS regression, on various measures of bank risk, to reflect regulatory, accounting and market-based risk-taking. The authors use a sample of publicly traded banks operating in Africa during 2004–2019.

Results show that higher level of bank competition increases bank risk taking and results in greater financial fragility in the absence of banking capital regulations. Furthermore, larger capital adequacy ratios control the risk-taking incentives of managers and guard banks against the risk of default. Further tests confirm the significance of market-based risk measures over accounting and regulatory measures.

Findings are relevant to bank managers and regulators in their sustained effort of finding an optimal balance between bank competition and financial stability. Increased competition should be balanced with capital regulations to curtail bank excessive risky behavior and derive the social benefits of greater competition in the market while sustaining overall economic growth.

This study provides novel evidence in an international context. First, it uses regulatory, accounting and market-based measures of bank risk taking to reflect regulators', management and market participants' emphasis. Another original contribution is the investigation of bank competition across African economies characterized by financial liberalization, stringent banking system and interesting socio-economic challenges.

The authors investigate whether abnormal tone in corporate narrative disclosures is associated with earnings management and earnings quality, in an emerging market context. Based on agency theory and opportunistic/impression management perspective, this study examines whether executives manage disclosure tone to support their opportunistic behavior, when using earnings management.

This study uses a sample of earnings press releases of publicly traded firms in the MENA region during 2014–2019. It employs textual analysis to measure disclosure tone. The authors estimate abnormal disclosure tone after controlling for firm characteristics. Discretionary accruals proxy for earnings management and are estimated using Modified Jones model. Earnings quality is measured using accounting-based and market-based proxies: earnings smoothness, persistence, predictability and value relevance/informativeness.

Results show a positive association between abnormal disclosure tone and earnings management. Additionally, results show that earnings persistence is higher for firms with lower levels of abnormal disclosure tone. Results are sustained for earnings smoothness, but not for predictability and value relevance/informativeness.

Results provide initial evidence of management's use of tone management jointly with earnings management. This adds to prior studies adopting the opportunistic perspective of disclosure tone, through showing that discretionary tone in narrative disclosures can be strategically used by management to influence investors' perceptions.

The results provide valuable insight to board of directors, auditors and market participants on the possible biases emerging from tone of narrative disclosures in corporate reports. For regulators and standard-setters, results shed light on the need for regulations and rules beyond financial statements, to guide disclosure of narrative information in different corporate reports.

This study contributes to the rare evidence that investigates textual disclosure characteristics to uncover management's opportunistic practices and assess earnings quality. Where majority of studies concentrate on developed markets, this study provides novel evidence of emerging markets by examining the association between abnormal disclosure tone and earnings management/earnings quality. Also, it validates the tone management model proposed by Huang et al. (2014) for capturing tone manipulation.

As the popularity of Islamic banking and financial instruments continues to rise globally, a recurring empirical question is what specifically makes consumers choose Islamic banking. This paper aims to investigate the determinants of bank type selection, especially in culturally diverse settings where the Islamic banking sector is well-established. It further examines whether consumers’ gender/religion influences their choices. One intuitive prediction is that Muslim consumers opt for Islamic banking products as “ethical” because of conviction-related reasons. However, the reality is not necessarily straightforward.

This paper uses structural equation modeling to examine data collected from a survey questionnaire of 790 respondents in an emerging market setting. Further analysis is made based on gender and religion to remove related bias.

Results suggest that overall consumer awareness significantly affects the selection of Islamic banking products. The positive effect of awareness is more significant for Muslim consumers relative to non-Muslims. Interestingly, social stimuli and bank attributes have an insignificant effect on the banking choices of both Muslims and non-Muslims.

Results suggest that Islamic banks’ marketing managers should adopt differentiated strategies for men and women, focusing on the core benefits of the service or personal interactions with consumers, respectively, along with a focus on different aspects of personal service for each gender. Awareness should be enhanced by adopting informative and effective marketing strategies to attract and retain consumers in the competitive bank environment. Islamic banks (IB) should pay attention to the religious effect without considering it as the sole variable motivating potential customers. They should design segmented and customized marketing strategies based on gender-religion market segmentation to suit different groups’ needs.

The findings fill a gap in the literature and provide Islamic bankers with insights to help design and articulate their business strategies to appeal to consumers in a multicultural context. Examining an integral part of gender and religion mitigates biased estimates due to the omission of variables. The study contributes to the existing literature on customer preferences for IB with a relatively large, new data set.

This paper is motivated by the heated debates preceding the introduction of additional regulatory requirements of Basel III on capital conservation buffer (CCB) and regulatory leverage (RLEV) in banks of emerging markets. The paper aims to examine which policy ratio can improve bank efficiency (BE), in one of the most resilient banking settings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The analysis is performed on a sample of 13 banks for the period 2010–2018 in Egypt and proceeds in two steps. In the first step, the data envelopment analysis model is used to derive bank-specific efficiency scores. In the second step, BE scores are regressed on the two types of regulatory capital and a set of control variables.

The paper is motivated by regulatory debates on the viability of RLEV and CCB in enhancing BE. The results show that higher RLEV and CCB are associated with a reduction in BE and that RLEV is highly associated with BE compared to CCB. Hence, results are relevant to policymakers in designing measures for improving BE in emerging markets.

The findings contribute to a small but growing stream of research on capital adequacy in emerging markets. This study provides results on the viability of risk-based vs non-risk-based capital requirements. The findings are also relevant to bank regulators in similar emerging market settings in their efforts to introduce and phase in minimum leverage requirements according to Basel III.

Recent studies in the realm of housing design avow for the concept of Liveable Cities; an aspect which in turn, places emphasis on the concept of home range. The home range is regarded as the challenge to create a ‘near environment’ that is humanistic and fair, community-oriented and environmentally conscious; a relatively new conception towards responsive and sustainable environments for residents' well-being. Considering that socio-cultural needs in tandem with architectural and urban characteristics correspond to residents perspectives of their home environment; hence, understanding residents' perceptions of their home range should provide designers with deeper insights for creating more responsive residential environments. This study aimed at identifying aspects that contribute to shaping the residents' perception of their home range. The field study included two housing features within the same social class in Egypt with a focus on Cairo: residents of the city's original districts and immigrants of the city to newly suburban gated communities. The methodology was an in-depth qualitative study, exploratory in nature, based on a theoretical content analysis of literature on home range, and a field survey that investigated the residents' perception of the concept. Tools for data gathering relied on photographic and observation methods; together with a structured interview on a random sample in each of the two defined residential environments. Discussions relate findings to planning concepts, and finally, results have generated a framework for decision makers and designers.

The current work aimed to investigate the private tutoring phenomenon among Egyptian medical faculty students.

The present work is a cross-sectional observational study using an online, anonymous questionnaire disseminated to Egyptian medical students and instructors via social platforms and university e-mails. All subjects involved in the survey gave informed consent to begin the questionnaire. No financial incentives were awarded to finish the questionnaire.

In total, 79.2% of the surveyed students (n = 198) admitted taking private medical courses during their medical study courses till the date of the survey. The Egyptian students, 68.4% (n = 171), markedly surpassed the non-Egyptian participants (n = 79, 31.6%). Males were nearly double the female participants (n = 162 and 88 consecutively).The highest academic-level-seeking private medical tutoring was the fifth-year students (n = 66, 26.4%).

A large sample size is needed to strengthen the statistical power and permit the generalization over the population, so more research work in this aspect is recommended. Also, subject-specific data in private medical tutoring need to be investigated in future works. Similar global work is recommended to allow better comparison of data worldwide.

When conceptualizing medical education processes and developing its regulations, the dynamics of private medical instruction should be taken into account, especially concerning socioeconomic inequities and efficiency in medical school systems. This work has been the first to investigate the private tutoring phenomenon among Egyptian medical students to the authors' best knowledge.

Heritage buildings are a witness to previous civilizations and constitute important elements in transmitting cultural identity through generations. In 1938, Alexandria University was established; it was called the University of Farouk at the time. In 1952, the university was named “Alexandria University,” and since then, it has witnessed growth and expansion in several fields. The research aims to preserve the heritage of this academic institution. It seeks to document this wealth of buildings that tell the story of the second-earliest university in Egypt.

A mixed-method approach was employed. A descriptive method was used to narrate the history of the university and the importance of its buildings. Within the quantitative approach, a questionnaire was chosen as the survey instrument for collecting the data within the research case study. The aim was to determine the awareness of students, staff and employees of the heritage importance of their faculty. Within the qualitative approach, several interviews were conducted with employees in the engineering departments of the university administrative building at Chatby and some of the selected faculties. The aim was to determine the methods used for the conservation of these buildings.

Alexandria University has a heritage value not only in its great history but also through its heritage buildings. Raising the awarness of the university's affiliates of this heritage will lead to enhance the feelings of loyalty and belongings to the university. Therefore, preserving this heritage and properly managing it is crucial.

Universities have to recognize that their built heritage constitutes a unique expression that can create a distinctive sense of place. University heritage is crucial in defining and interpreting the university cultural identity. The institution must identify resources that will help build a new public image and contribute to develop a successful brand. Campus appearance is an important factor that has a significant impact on student feelings of loyalty and belonging.

Motivated by massive bank failures during the financial crisis and the remarkable resilience of Islamic banks (IBs), this paper aims to analyze the interdependencies between asset/liability portfolio choices of IBs in emerging markets.

The authors collect data from the financial statements of IBs in the Middle East and North Africa region and Southeast Asia during the period 2002-2012. Using canonical correlation analysis, the authors investigate the degree of interdependencies between the asset/liability accounts unique to IBs and how their ALM models work at times of economic turmoil.

IBs tend to make decisions on sources of finance based on their asset portfolio choices. The interdependencies are stronger for small banks. IBs direct more of their investments to risk-mitigating instruments that share the risk with the borrower/client and are based on the purchase and sale of real goods rather than financial instruments. Additionally, banks tend to rely less on equity to finance their investments during economic boom and increase their equity holdings during economic bust.

This paper contributes to research on an under-researched, globally growing finance sector. It extends research on ALM while providing novel evidence using non-standardized asset/liability accounts unique to IBs.

The analysis of unique accounts has not been discussed in prior studies, which mainly used standardized account balances to compare Islamic and conventional banks. Moreover, the resilience of IBs and whether their ALM models are superior at times of turmoil has remained a black box. The results of this study are relevant to unravel this unanswered question.