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This paper aims to investigate the association among trustee board diversity (TBD), corporate governance (CG), capital structure (CS) and financial performance (FP) by using a sample of UK charities. Specifically, the authors investigate the effect of TBD on CS and ascertain whether CG quality moderates the TBD–CS nexus. Additionally, the authors examine the impact of CS on FP and ascertain whether the CS–FP nexus is moderated by TBD and CG quality.

The authors use a number of multivariate regression techniques, including ordinary least squares, fixed-effects, lagged-effects and two-stage least squares, to rigorously analyse the data and test the hypotheses.

First, the authors find that trustee board gender diversity has a negative effect on CS, but this relationship holds only up to the point of having three women trustees. The authors find similar, but relatively weak, results for the presence of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) trustees. Second, the authors find that the TBD–CS nexus depends on the quality of CG, with the relationship being stronger in charities with higher frequency of meetings, independent CG committee and larger trustee and audit firm size. Third, the authors find that CS structure has a positive effect on FP, but this is moderated by TBD and CG quality. The evidence is robust to different econometric models that adjust for alternative measures and endogeneities. The authors interpret the findings within explanations of a theoretical perspective that captures insights from different CG and CS theories.

Existing studies that explore TBD, CG, CS and FP in charities are rare. This study distinctively attempts to address this empirical lacuna within the extant literature by providing four new insights with specific focus on UK charities. First, the authors provide new evidence on the relationship between TBD and CS. Second, the authors offer new evidence on the moderating effect of CG on the TBD-CS nexus. Third, the authors provide new evidence on the effect of CS on FP. Finally, the authors offer new evidence on the moderating effect of TBD and CG on the CS–FP nexus.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceived association between audit rotation (AR) and audit quality (AQ) using respondents from a sample of audit firms operating in a developing economy, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The paper addresses the following research question: How do UAE auditors perceive the association between various forms of AR and AQ?

The authors collected perception data from a sample of UAE auditors using a questionnaire, and applied several non-parametric statistical techniques to analyze the data, and to answer five exploratory research questions on the perceived association between various forms of AR and AQ.

The findings suggest that the UAE auditors in our sample did not perceive the association between individual types of AR and AQ as significantly different, and that AR in general is essential for AQ improvement and enhances trust in the audit process. Similarly, we find more support for the perception that medium audit tenure is associated with a lower impairment effect on auditor independence. Furthermore, we find no significant differences in perception based on gender, but younger/less experienced professionals and professionals in self-employed practices and small audit firms (compared to other demographics) significantly perceived AR enforceability and AT length to be associated with AQ. Our findings help to enrich our understanding of the perceived AR-AQ association in a relatively new context and less researched audit area in a developing economy.

Although lively debates on the question of AR and AQ within the accounting, finance, investment professions and in the financial media continue, there has been relatively limited knowledge and a dearth of empirical studies on this question in most developing economies. Being the first attempt in the country – the UAE, this study contributes towards addressing this gap in empirical knowledge by exploring the perceived association between various forms of AR and AQ in a developing economy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which corporate board characteristics influence the level of dividend pay-out ratio using a sample of UK small- and medium-sized enterprises from 2010 to 2013 listed on the Alternative Investment Market.

The data are analysed by employing multivariate regression techniques, including estimating fixed effects, lagged effects and two-stage least squares regressions.

The results show that board size, the frequency of board meetings, board gender diversity and audit committee size have a significant relationship with the level of dividend pay-out. Audit committee size and board size have a positive association with the level of dividend pay-out, whilst the frequency of board meetings and board gender diversity have a significant negative relationship with the level of dividend pay-out. By contrast, the findings suggest that board independence and CEO role duality do not have any significant effect on the level of dividend pay-out.

This is one of the first attempts at examining the relationship between corporate governance and dividend policy in the UK’s Alternative Investment Market, with the analysis distinctively informed by agency theoretical insights drawn from the outcome and substitution hypotheses.

The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge and obtain an understanding of the phenomenon of public sector external auditing (PSEA) in Tanzania.

The paper used a grounded theory method informed by a critical approach. It used data from multiple sources including interviews, observations and documents, to provide a theoretical and practical understanding of PSEA in Tanzania. The theoretical aspects were developed ‘in vivo’ and were also informed by the Habermasian concept of colonisation.

The principal research findings from the data concern the central phenomenon of managing colonising tendencies in PSEA which appeared to be the core strategy for both the government and external auditors. While the government appeared to manage the National Audit Office of Tanzania (NAOT) appearance and exploited the legitimising features of PSEA, external auditors manoeuvred within colonising tendencies and attempted to maintain the ‘audit supremacy’ image. PSEA in Tanzania encountered colonising tendencies because of weak working relationship between the NAOT and other accountability agencies, inconsistencies in governance and politics, the culture of corruption and secrecy, dependence on foreign financing and mimicking of foreign models. To coexist within this colonising environment, external auditors managed their relationship with auditees and the complexities of PSEA roles. Managing colonising tendencies resulted into obscured subordination of PSEA, contributing to cosmetic accountability and growing public interest in PSEA.

It is hoped that future research in other countries, in and beyond Africa, will be undertaken to broaden and deepen our understanding of the external auditing of public sector entities.

The paper combines grounded theory with a critical approach to understand PSEA in a developing country.

The purpose of this polyphonic paper is to report on interdisciplinary discussions on the state-of-the-art and future of public sector accounting research (PSAR). The authors hope to enliven the debates of the past and future developments in terms of context, themes, theories, methods and impacts in the field of PSAR by the exchanges they include here.

This polyphonic paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach. It brings into conversation ideas, views and approaches of several scholars on the actual and future developments of PSAR in various contexts, and explores potential implications.

This paper has brought together scholars from a plurality of disciplines, research methods and geographical areas, showing at the same time several points of convergence on important future themes (such as accounting as a mean for public, accounting, hybridity and value pluralism) and enabling conditions (accounting capabilities, profession and digitalisation) for PSA scholarship and practice, and the richness of looking at them from a plurality of perspectives.

Exploring these past and future developments opens up the potential for interesting theoretical insights. A much greater theoretical and practical reconsideration of PSAR will be fostered by the exchanges included here.

In setting out a future research agenda, this paper fosters theoretical and methodological pluralism in the interdisciplinary research community interested in PSAR in various contexts. The discussion perspectives presented in this paper constitute not only a basis for further research in this relevant accounting area on the role, status and developments of PSAR but also creative potential for practitioners to be more reflective on their practices and also intended and united outcomes of such practices.

Drawing on legitimacy and upper-echelon theory, this paper aims to investigate the moderating role of corporate governance in the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and board gender diversity (BGD).

Using Morgan Stanley Capital International measures of social and governance performance, the authors use 2,950 firm-year observations from US companies for the years 2016–2020 to show that good performance on social issues drives BGD.

The panel data model indicates that the relationship between CSP and BGD is strengthened when firms display robust corporate governance.

This study contributes to the extant literature through empirical consideration of CSP as a predictor of BGD, a relationship that has rarely been examined. It further highlights the significant role of corporate governance in ensuring that women have access to corporate boards. Discussion and findings highlight that social performance and governance may significantly contribute to the diversity of socially cognizant boards.

The use of digital technologies in the financial service industry has brought new complexities to the corporate governance in banks. Relying on the agency perspective of the shareholder, debtholder and societal governance in banks, this research examines the impact of financial technology innovation (FinTech) on banks' performance by enlightening the monitoring role of female independent directors.

Relying on a sample of Italian banks observed during the period 2016–2020, the authors hand-collected data on the use of FinTech by considering (1) the in-house provisions of FinTech solutions, (2) the collaboration with external FinTech firms and (3) a combination of both measures. The authors run a panel data regression analysis with fixed effects, measuring bank performance through bank competitiveness and bank riskiness.

The authors find that FinTech increases bank competitiveness in gathering money from depositors and that independent women on board mitigate the negative relationship between FinTech and the riskiness of banks' assets, ameliorating the conflicting interests among shareholders, debtholder and societal governance.

This study emphasizes the complexities of bank governance when dealing with FinTech in the wider perspective of equity governance, debt governance and the societal governance spotlighting the importance of appointing female directors in independent positions to enhance the bright sides of financial innovation. The authors enrich the literature on FinTech with a finer understanding of the drivers and implications of in-house provisions of FinTech solutions versus the collaboration with external FinTech firms.