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Lawrence Ingvarson is a principal research fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research. Prior to taking up his present part-time position, he was the research director of the Teaching and Leadership Program at ACER. He began his career as a science and mathematics teacher, teaching in West Australia, Scotland, and England before undertaking further studies at the University of London. He has held academic positions at the University of Stirling in Scotland and Monash University in Melbourne.

The study aims at reviewing a synthesis of disclosure, transparency, and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation in an attempt to provide directions for future research. Prior research overwhelmingly supports that the IFRS adoption or effective implementation of IFRS will enhance high-quality financial reporting, transparency, enhance the country’s investment environment, and foreign direct investment (FDI) (Dayanandan, Donker, Ivanof, & Karahan, 2016; Gláserová, 2013; Muniandy & Ali, 2012). However, some researchers provide conflicting evidence that developing countries implementing IFRS are probably not going to encounter higher FDI inflows (Gheorghe, 2009; Lasmin, 2012). It has also been argued that the IFRS adoption decreases the management earnings in countries with high levels of financial disclosure. In general, the study indicates that the adoption of IFRS has improved the financial reporting quality. The common law countries have strong rules to protect investors, strict legal enforcement, and high levels of transparency of financial information. From the extensive structured review of literature using the Scopus database tool, the study reviewed 105 articles, and in particular, the topic-related 94 articles were analysed. All 94 articles were retrieved from a range of 59 journals. Most of the articles (77 of 94) were published 2010–2018. The top five journals based on the citations are Journal of Accounting Research (187 citations), Abacus (125 citations), European Accounting Review (107 citations), Journal of Accounting and Economics (78 citations), and Accounting and Business Research (66 citations). The most-cited authors are Daske, Hail, Leuz, and Verdi (2013); Daske and Gebhardt (2006); and Brüggemann, Hitz, and Sellhorn (2013). Surprisingly, 65 of 94 articles did not utilise the theory. In particular, four theories have been used frequently: agency theory (15), economic theory (5), signalling theory (2), and accounting theory (2). The study calls for future research on the theoretical implications and policy-related research on disclosure and transparency which may inform the local and international standard setters.

Forward-thinking companies are interested in promoting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) while remaining profitable. Some critics have raised concerns regarding the motivations of companies that engage in CSR, suggesting that inauthentic efforts are little more than “green-washing.” However, when efforts are integrated into the core values of a company, it is likely that CSR can result in important benefits for companies and communities. In this study, we present a case study of Cotopaxi, an outdoor products company located in Salt Lake City, UT. During the early spring and summer of 2016, Cotopaxi developed a computer coding and filmmaking workshop for refugee youth to assist them in learning marketable skills for future employment. During the course of the workshop, the authors volunteered with individuals from Cotopaxi, Adobe, Goldman Sachs, and local universities to assist in the workshop. We interviewed volunteers to determine what motivated them to participate. By analyzing the interviews, we identified three specific volunteer types: Experienced Volunteers, Kindred Spirit Volunteers, and Emerging Volunteers. We suggest that by understanding these volunteer types, organizations can leverage overlapping values between volunteers and the organization to create more authentic CSR efforts.