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This paper aims to analyze the influences of context and methodological differences in how universities confront, report and manage carbon neutrality in selected Andean universities, contrasted with a university in the USA.

A sequential, mixed-methods design, using quantitative and qualitative approaches was applied. The data analysis is based on a systematic literature review with bibliometric analysis to identify how carbon neutrality in universities is understood and applied. Informed by the quantitative analysis, the qualitative phase compared the assessment methodologies, opportunities and obstacles in three Andean universities – EAFIT in Colombia, EPN in Ecuador and the UC in Chile – contrasted with MIT (USA) for comparative purposes beyond the region.

The bibliometric analysis points to the evolution of carbon management and carbon neutrality in universities and indicates how universities have applied methodologies and defined opportunities and obstacles. In this comparative experience, the contextual issues are brought to the fore. The conclusions highlight the importance of context in carbon neutrality assessment and argue against crude comparative metrics. While carbon assessment protocols provide data on which actions may be taken, the phase of carbon management development and the specifics of context – based on local institutional, geographical, climatic, cultural, socioeconomic and national policy conditions – are far more relevant for identifying actions.

This study only considered four universities, and the findings are not generalizable. The argument highlights the point that contextual factors generate important differences that may complicate simple comparisons based on the university's type or size. It also highlights the differences in the carbon calculation methodologies used by the institutions.

Results build on the recent publications that document the Latin American context. The article contributes to knowledge about Andean university commitments and actions relating to climate change and carbon neutrality. This knowledge can contribute to how universities in the region seek to apply different methodologies, set targets and the timing of actions and consider their contextual opportunities and obstacles.

Comparing university carbon footprints and carbon neutrality plans is an emerging topic, presenting methodological and institutional difficulties. This paper reveals some of these difficulties by comparing parameters, actions and implementation processes against contextual factors. While there is a drive for international and national comparisons and systematization of data on university carbon performance, significant methodological gaps still need to be resolved to account for these contextual factors.

This study asks whether external auditors enable the transfer of policies to the United Nations organizations that they audit and, if so, what types of policies are transferred.

The empirical research is based on a content analysis of 512 external auditor recommendations from 28 pre- and post-accrual reports of 14 UN bodies.

We find that external auditors do enable policy transfer and that such involvements may, at times, veer into non-neutral policy spaces.

We did not analyze all UN organizations with accruals-based accounting. We also did not engage in a longer longitudinal study.

Our findings raise new questions about international organization accountability, the technocratic and policy-specific influences of external auditors, and open a debate about whether attempted policy transfers can be neutral.

The world’s largest group of international organizations is affiliated with the UN. External auditors help ensure that member-state monies are appropriately utilized. Our study is the first to compare pre- and post-accrual external auditor recommendations for 14 UN bodies. It is also the first to notate and study the attempted policy transfers from external auditors to the audited UN bodies.

The purpose of this study is to discuss the most relevant literature related to the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the public sector in developed and developing countries, identifying the constraints and stimuli they represent in the implementation of the public accounting reform. It also presents future research proposals on the factors identified.

The methodology is based on a systematic review of the literature described by Moher et al. (2009). The final sample includes 90 academic papers published from 2000 to 2022.

The main findings indicate that there are differences between constraints and stimuli in the implementation of accounting standards between developed and developing countries. In terms of constraints, the main factor in developed countries is the lack of training, whereas in developing countries it is the limitation on financial resources. In addition, the results demonstrate that in developed countries the factors that most encourage the implementation of accounting standards are modernization and improvement of accounting, while in developing countries, encouragement comes mainly from external and internal pressure.

This study helps countries and institutions to learn from experience and better prepare for the accounting reforms of public administration that they will undertake. Managers of public organizations may be willing to make decisions in the adoption of IPSAS if they take into account the factors established herein.

This study helps countries and institutions to learn from the experience, better prepare for the public administration accounting reforms that they will undertake and add greater transparency in the accountability of public accounts to citizens.

In addition to previous studies, this study addresses a number of factors perceived by those involved in the implementation of IPSAS in developed and developing countries and provides a robust research agenda to pursue during the coming years, as there are several important unexplored questions that invite further research.

This study empirically tests the use of loan loss provisions (LLPs) for earnings and capital smoothing when emphasis is laid on banks' riskiness and adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) in Nigeria.

Annual bank-level data are hand-extracted between 2007 and 2017 from annual reports of a sample 16 deposit money banks (DMBs), and analysed using appropriate panel regression models subsequent to a number of diagnostic tests including heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation and cross-sectional dependence. The use of both reported LLPs (TLLP) and discretionary LLPs (DLLP) for earnings and capital management is tested to advance the practice in the literature.

Generally, the study finds that Nigerian DMBs manage capital via LLPs, while mixed results are obtained for earnings smoothing. However, during IFRS, Nigerian DMBs' management of capital is identifiable with TLLP, while smoothing of earnings is peculiar to DLLP. Additionally, evidence of the improvement in loan loss reporting quality expected during IFRS for riskier Nigerian DMBs, could not be attained. This is corroborated by the study's findings of the use of both TLLP and DLLP for earnings and capital management during IFRS by DMBs in solvency crisis against the only use of TLLP to manage capital found for the entire period.

The evidential capital and earnings lopsidedness may subject Nigerian DMBs' going-concern to a lot of questions.

The study sets a foremost record in the empirical test of managerial opportunistic behaviour embedded in earnings and capital concurrently while accounting for loan losses by all categories of Nigerian DMBs in terms of riskiness, following accounting regime change.

This study aims at investigating the effect of corporate governance attributes on the Fraud disclosure of Takaful insurance companies in Saudi Arabia from 2014 to 2022.

This study uses a self-constructed disclosure index to quantify the level of fraud information using content analysis. The count regression (Poisson and negative binomial) models in panel data modeling are used to check the interdependence relationship between the Fraud disclosure and the corporate governance structure of 26 Takaful insurers.

The findings confirm the negative effect of ownership structure and the board size on the Fraud disclosure. However, the high proportion of independent board members, the audit board committee and the size of the risk board committee positively affect the extent of Fraud disclosure. Finally, this study provide evidence that large size of Shariah board is associated with a lower level of voluntary Fraud disclosure.

Both economics-based theories and social exchange theory provide a better basis upon which to understand mechanisms by which board of directors in Takaful insurance provides external stakeholders with valuable information about corporate fraud.

It seems important to equip audit and Shariah board committee with the tools to give them an operational content that focus systematically on the “tone at the top” in investigating fraud, including disclosure and discipline.

Corporate governance is rapidly changing in Saudi Arabia and it is unclear whether adopting a corporate governance practices in financial institutions is appropriate for Islamic insurance companies.

Given the scientific and practical difficulties inherent in measuring and comparing socioeconomic deprivation (SED), and the further complexity added in cross national measurements, the main aim of this paper was to check the validity of SED measures used in PISA 2018 dataset. The SED measure used in PISA 2018 was the PISA index of economic, social and cultural status abbreviated as the ESCS index. This assessment was important as PISA analysis is based on variables derived from this instrument and the ESCS index and these reports influence and reflect international and comparative education policies and practice.

This study critically evaluates the socioeconomic status measures in the PISA 2018 dataset, focusing on their convergent validity and cross-national comparability. Using responses from over 600,000 students in 73 countries, it examines the validity of SES indicators and their comparability across countries. The study employs principal component analysis to construct local SES measures and compares them with the existing Economic, Social, and Cultural Status (ESCS) index. It explores the relationship between these SES measures and academic achievement in reading, science, and mathematics, aiming to understand their predictive validity in diverse educational settings. Statistical analyses were conducted using the IEA’s IDB Analyser and SPSS, ensuring robustness and generalisability across the diverse participant countries.

Our research findings challenge the assumed superiority of local measures over broader constructs like the Economic, Social, and Cultural Status (ESCS). It suggests that standardised measures like ESCS may provide more reliable predictions of academic achievement across various educational contexts, underscoring the complex relationship between SES measures and academic performance.

Our novel analysis shows that local and cross-national SED measures are poorly correlated. Our findings raise questions about the measures' validity while acknowledging the methodological challenges. We provide empirical evidence to support ongoing debates on the topic.

The European Commission has established the reference value of the social discount rate (SDR) to be used in the cost-benefit analysis according to the subdivision of the states relating to the beneficiaries of the Cohesion Fund. This criterion does not allow to adequately consider the economic, social and environmental conditions of each European states for ensuring an equitable and inclusive growth. The aimof the work is to provide an innovative methodology for assessing the “adjusted” SDR according to the socioeconomic and environmental conditions that differently affect the sustainable development of each European state.

Through the implementation of a methodological approach that consists of ordered and sequential phases and the synergic adoption of the Multi-Criteria Techniques with the Data Envelopment Analysis, a corrective coefficient of the SDR established by the European Commission is determined.

The results obtained for the 27 European states highlight how the different conditions of each of them could affect the correct choice of the SDR to be used in the Cost-Benefit Analysis.

The proposed research represents a useful reference for identifying national reference SDR values for each European state, consistent with its specificities and with the goals of inclusive growth of the countries and of social and territorial cohesion. Furthermore, the traceability of the methodology in its phases will allow to adapt the SDR to sudden events or exogenous shocks.

This study aims to examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and job pursuit intention (JPI), and the role of job seekers’ perception on employer prosocial orientation, value congruence and employer attractiveness in this relationship. CSR is measured based on internal and external CSR.

By adopting quantitative approach, data was obtained through survey questionnaire from 420 bachelor’s degree university fresh graduates from five universities in Malaysia who are actively seeking for jobs. Data was analysed using structural equation modelling technique.

Research findings show that internal and external CSR positively impact job seekers’ perception of employer prosocial orientation. Job seekers’ perception towards employer prosocial orientation has a significant positive impact on value congruence. Value congruence has a significant positive influence on employer attractiveness. Finally, employer attractiveness has a significant positive impact on JPI.

The findings are useful for human resources management. Organisations (employers) should focus on effective internal and external CSR practices through a prosocial orientation approach to attract the best talents and create a strong position in the job market.

This study extends the Signalling Theory and P-O Fit theory by applying them to an entirely different context of CSR and JPI, by incorporated the holistic job seekers’ psychological processes of the recruitment signals (internal and external CSR), signalling process and person-organisation fit (perception on employer prosocial orientation, value congruence and employer attractiveness) thoroughly.

The purpose of this paper is to understand whether and how the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) paradigm can be useful in social reporting in the context of nonprofit healthcare organizations. In other words, the study deals with non-financial reporting and information, allowing external stakeholders to comprehensively evaluate the organization’s performance and behavior, investigating internal stakeholder perception over ESG paradigm application.

The authors used a case study approach investigating four cases among nonprofit healthcare organizations in Italy. Analyses of available primary sources have been conducted, followed by semi-structured interviews. Interviews were then transcribed and coded in a joint blinded process by all authors. More specifically, three areas have been investigated: (1) factors motivating the development of non-financial disclosure practices; (2) the rationale behind the organization’s decision to include specific topics; and (3) the future perspective on the future of non-financial disclosure within the specific sector.

ESG may serve as a suitable framework to create comparable documents that can act as benchmarks for similar institutions. However, while nonprofit organizations (NPOs) can draw inspiration from ESG, the utility of these criteria should be thoughtfully tailored to align with the organization’s mission. The ESG using as a general guide, instead of implementing it as a real tool to assess performances, emerges as a positive practice. NPOs should not focus on fulfilling ESG requirements bur rather take inspiration from them. Otherwise, the risk is an excess of focus on the formal aspect rather than on its content.

The study contributes to a better understanding of social and ESG’ reporting activities and approaches in the healthcare sector by describing some case studies and the effect of sustainability in the social reporting of nonprofit healthcare organizations.

The recent meeting of G-20 world leaders, held in New Delhi, in 2023, highlighted that the physical effect of climate change has considerable macro-economic costs at the national and global levels and they have also pledged to accelerate the clean, sustainable and inclusive energy transition along a variety of pathways. Climate change could pose various emerging risks to the firm’s operational and financial activities, specifically for those which are belonging to the energy sector. Thus, this study aims to investigate the impact of climate risks on the financial performance of select energy companies from G-20 countries.

The study considered 48 energy companies from G-20 countries as the sample for the period of 2017 to 2021. To measure the climate change-related physical risks, the study has considered the ND-GAIN climate vulnerability score and the firm’s financial performance has been measured by return on assets, return on equity, return on capital used and price-to-book ratio. To examine the impact of climate risks on the financial performance of the sample companies, the authors have used pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed/random effect regression analysis and required data diagnosis tests are also performed.

The empirical results suggested that climate risks negatively impacted the financial performance of the sample companies. The market performances of the firms are also being impacted by the physical climate change. The results of panel data regression analysis also confirmed the robustness of the empirical results derived from the pooled OLS analysis suggesting that firms that operated in a less climate-risky country, financially performed better than the firms that operated in a more climate-risky country.

The paper has significant practical implications like it could be helpful for the policymakers, investors, suppliers, researchers and other stakeholders in developing deeper insights about the impact of climate risks on the energy sectors from an international perspective. This study may also help the policymakers in developing policies for the management of climate risk for the energy sector.

This study adds insights to the existing literature in the area of climate risks and firm’s financial performance. Moreover, this may be the first study that attempts to evaluate the impact of climate risks on the financial performance of select energy companies from the G-20’s perspective.