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The ownership structure of a corporation can alleviate the agency problem that arises between shareholders and managers of a corporation, which implies that the ownership composition of a firm may infl uence the level of voluntary disclosure. This study investigates whether the ownership structure of U. S. based multinational corporations affects the managerial decision to voluntarily disclose quarterly foreign segment data. The empirical results show that the three ownership variables of interest, institutional stock ownership, managerial stock ownership and outside blockholder stock ownership are inversely related to the level of voluntary disclosure of quarterly foreign segment data. Therefore, it is inferred that an increase in the proportion of outstanding common stock held by these ownership groups is accompanied by a decrease in the probability that a U.S. multinational firm voluntarily discloses quarterly foreign segment data.

Demonetization and pandemic-related restrictions in India propelled the usage of mobile payments (M-payments). The culture of online smartphone transactions is expected to rise over the coming years, even after things return to normal. This study aims to unveil the factors that escalate the satisfaction levels of M-payment users and eventually stimulate them to continue using M-payments for their daily activities.

This study evaluated the intention to continue using M-payments for 710 users utilizing structural equation modeling and augmenting the technology acceptance model (TAM) as well as the expectation confirmation model (ECM). Mediation and moderation analysis examined the proposed model's direct and indirect relationships.

The findings unveil that perceived value co-creation participation, service quality and cognitive processing magnify user satisfaction, significantly escalating M-payment continuance usage intention. Perceived value co-creation participation and user satisfaction with M-payment partially mediate the linkage among the constructs. Furthermore, perceived usefulness strengthens the link, while perceived severity of security threats weakens the linkage between user satisfaction with M-payment and continuance usage intention.

The study's findings could benefit M-payment service providers, users, policymakers and the telecom industry to strengthen India's digital payment framework.

The perceived value co-creation participation and cognitive processing domain have not garnered much attention in the M-payment literature. The study strives to comprehend these constructs by widening the purview of TAM and ECM models. It also measures the moderating role of perceived severity of security threats and perceived usefulness to unfurl potential linkages between the identified constructs.

This study aims to examine the incremental valuation implication of excess realized tax benefit under Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) No. 123R: share‐based payment (123R excess tax benefit), which is required to be reported as a component of financing cash flows by the publicly traded corporations.

The sample comprises of Standard and Poor's (S&P); large‐, mid‐ and small‐cap firms who adopted SFAS No. 123(R) on January 1, 2006. The study covers a time period of the first and second quarters of 2006.

The multivariate regression analyses indicate that the capital market evaluates the SFAS 123R excess tax benefit in presence of accruals, and operating, investing and other financing cash‐flow components at different rates in pricing equity securities.

The primary results, however, are mostly restricted to large‐ and mid‐cap S&P firms. No incremental valuation consequence of SFAS 123R excess tax benefits for small‐cap S&P firms is observed.

The findings suggest that the 123R excess tax benefit reported as a financing cash‐flow component is incrementally informative in equity valuation but the timing and extent of its market valuation is impacted by firm size, its visibility and information environment, and the magnitude of the excess realized tax benefit in dollar terms.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between corporate governance attributes in the form of board and ownership characteristics and the remediation of internal control material weaknesses (ICMW) reported under Section 404 of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002.

The paper employs multivariate logistic regression models for a sample of 528 firms having ICMW as per their auditors' attestation reports during the fiscal periods of 2004, 2005 and 2006 to investigate the empirical relationships between board and ownership characteristics, and remediation of control weaknesses in subsequent fiscal years.

The board diligence, CEO‐independent board, and managerial, institutional and dominant shareholdings are all positively and significantly associated with the ICMW remediation of the sample firms in the presence of other firm‐specific variables in the analysis. The results also suggest that, in general, the ownership characteristics play a greater role in the firms' remediation action than the board‐related factors except board diligence. The separate sub‐sample tests demonstrate that board diligence and several stock ownership characteristics are positively and significantly associated with a firm's action to remediate both the systematic and non‐systematic internal control weaknesses though the results are more robust for non‐systematic control weaknesses.

A useful extension is to conduct a detailed analysis of the effect of audit committee characteristics in conjunction with board and ownership characteristics on firms' remediation action in a setting where ICMW firms take such action at a differential pace that may continue over two or more fiscal periods. Further, the present study examines the empirical associations between variables of interest, and does not, by virtue of its results, establish any cause‐and‐effect relationship between governance attributes and timeliness in ICMW remediation. Finally, this research can be extended to a detailed analysis of the types of systematic and non‐systematic control weaknesses, their probable effect on firms' financial reporting process and the role of corporate governance in timeliness of management's remediation action for different types of internal control problems.

The paper adds to the existing literature on corporate governance and financial reporting quality by documenting the association between a firm's board and ownership characteristics and management's immediate action to remediate internal control problems that ultimately impacts the quality of reported accounting information. The study complements prior studies on ICMW remediation and accrual quality by demonstrating that the effective monitoring by board and large, sophisticated shareholders as well as greater alignment of manager‐shareholder interests ensures more timeliness in remediation of internal control weaknesses and improves financial reporting quality.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the empirical association between expected and unexpected audit fees and reported earnings quality for a sample of Big 4(5) client companies over a period from 2000 to 2005.

The paper employs a cross‐sectional multiple regression model for a sample of 1,142 firms (6,852 firm‐years) covering a time period of six years comprising 2000 to 2005 to evaluate the relationship between both expected and unexpected audit fees and performance‐adjusted discretionary accruals that are estimated from the extended version of the modified Jones model.

The paper finds that both expected and unexpected audit fees are associated with an increase in earnings quality, as indicated by the reduction of both absolute and signed discretionary accrual adjustments. Furthermore, in some analyses these associations are found to persist into the post‐Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX) period. The main results hold in sensitivity tests that involve using both the absolute and signed unexpected audit fees as independent variables and in tests that use both the absolute and signed current accruals as dependent variables of interest.

The results suggest that audit efforts consistent with client‐specific business attributes and reflected in expected audit fees mitigate financial reporting biases, the effect of which is incrementally observable to some extent in the post‐SOX period as well. Unexpected audit fees, a proxy for fee surprise arising out of auditor‐client‐specific contractual situations, are also associated with an increase in earnings quality. The association is, in some analyses, significant for the post‐SOX years. The test results do not exhibit any evidence of auditor independence problems associated with high expected and unexpected audit fees; a result that supports the “reputation protection” argument for auditors' reporting decisions.

In a time period surrounding the introduction of SOX when nonaudit consulting services have severely been restricted, and the audit fee growth for publicly traded companies have been dramatic, an analysis of this nature potentially produces valuable insights into the auditors' fee decision, audit efforts, and auditor independence issue. The study looks into a new perspective concerning the relationship between audit fees and financial reporting practice over the two regulatory regimes, pre‐ and post‐SOX.

The purpose of this research note is to examine the association between overvalued equities and audit fees in the USA.

The paper employs a standard audit fee regression model incorporating proxies for overvalued equities and controls for other known determinants of audit fees. Three proxies for overvaluation are used in this paper. These are: a lagged price‐earnings‐based overvaluation measure; a lagged price‐to‐book‐based overvaluation measure; and finally, a lagged abnormal‐return‐based overvaluation proxy measure.

Findings show that auditors charge higher audit fees for clients posing increased audit risks because of equity overvaluation, that this relationship did not change during and after the global financial crisis period, and is more pronounced for firms prone to aggressive earnings management.

This finding should assure investors about audit quality, since the positive finding potentially implies that auditors exert extra audit effort in auditing financial statements of firms that have been identified as overvalued. This finding should also provide some evidence to audit regulators that the audit profession incorporates audit risk into audit pricing. However, since no test has been conducted to identify the association between clients' business risk and audit effort, the positive association between equity overvaluation and audit fees should be interpreted in light of this limitation.

Jensen cautions that firms with overvalued equities suffer substantial agency costs. Although empirical research has documented managerial responses to overvaluation, there exists scant empirical evidence on auditors' response to the increased risk emanating from equity overvaluation. Since external auditors perform a significant role in ensuring the credibility of financial statements, it is important to understand whether auditors efficiently price this risk while determining audit fees.

The purpose of the paper is to examine the association between the corporate ownership characteristics and the timely remediation of internal control weaknesses over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002.

The paper employs both ordered and binary logistic regression models for a sample of 695 US firms who reported internal control weaknesses for the first time, pursuant to SOX Section 404, and evaluates the impact of the stock ownership characteristics on the timeliness in remediation of their control weaknesses.

The test results show that the corporate ownership characteristics, as a part of governance mechanism, play an incrementally critical role to influence firms' decisions to promptly remediate their internal control problems and improve the reliability of financial information. In addition, it was also found that a corporate board independent of its CEO is effective in monitoring timely remediation of control problems. Sub‐sample analyses for the company‐level and account‐specific internal control weaknesses produce similar results in support of the effect of corporate stock ownership characteristics on the timely remediation of internal control weaknesses.

First, the paper adds to the literature by demonstrating the incremental effect of the stock ownership characteristics on a firm's timeliness in remediation of control weaknesses, even after controlling the effect of audit committee and board characteristics in the analysis. Second, the paper shows that even in the post‐SOX years with enhanced regulatory oversight in corporate affairs, the effect of corporate ownership attributes as a part of governance is incrementally observable in a situation that calls for prompt managerial action to ensure the reliability of financial information. Third, for the first time, the study makes a separate detailed analysis on the association between the stock ownership attributes and the remediation of company‐level and account‐specific control weaknesses. The results provide valuable insights into the ownership governance effect on the remediation of the two types of control weaknesses that have different rigor, auditability (more or less auditable), and effects (pervasive or non‐pervasive) on financial reporting quality. Fourth, the study further enhances one's understanding of several important governance factors that help achieve a sound financial reporting system and restore investors' confidence in the system.

Recently, the Government of India has emphasized digital financial inclusion for promoting cashless transactions with a vision to transform India from a traditional cash-based economy into a cashless economy. Technology-driven payment apps are facilitated greater access to cashless financial services and improve the speed, efficiency, accuracy and effectiveness of financial transactions. This study aims to explore the determinants of quick response (QR) code mobile payment (m-payment) adoption intention among marginalized street vendors in India.

The proposed research model was tested using 320 responses from QR code m-payment users. An interview schedule was performed using the structured questionnaire from marginalized street vendors by adopting a purposive sampling technique. The proposed research framework of this study developed on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). In addition to the existing variables proposed in the UTAUT model, three more variables have been added, namely, digital financial literacy (DFL), personal innovativeness (PI) and perceived trust (PT). Besides, the study used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling techniques to analyze the data.

This study confirms that factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, PT and customers’ DFL are significant determinants of street vendors’ intention to use QR code m-payment services. However, social influence and PI have shown an insignificant relationship with adopting a QR code m-payment system.

The results provide insights for policymakers and service providers. Specifically, government and bankers design promotional campaigns emphasizing the ease of use, perceived benefits, security and faster business transactions to accept and use the QR code m-payment system to encourage prospective users to achieve a cashless economy.

Many prior studies have widely concentrated on m-payment adoption intention in India. However, only a few studies have attempted to examine the factors influencing the adoption of QR code m-payment services among merchants from emerging economies. There is a dearth of studies on QR code adoption from an unorganized sector perspective, specifically marginalized street vendors. Therefore, this study explicitly examines the extent to which the determinants of adoption intention toward QR code-based m-payment services among marginalized street vendors within the framework of the extended UTAUT model by incorporating DFL, PI and PT. The findings of this study contribute, theoretically and practically, to the existing literature.

Reducing inequity in health between the poor and the rich is one of the challenges of the Iranian health sector. Access to health services in Iran is lower in the lowest-income quarter, and the rich use health services more. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive framework for enabling financial access by the poor to health services in Iran.

Policy options were validated and approved by experts and specialists in two stages using the Delphi technique. The sample was consisted of 22 well-known experts on the subject who were selected based on purposive sampling. To evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted with five participants. Dimensional validity of the policy model, which was agreed upon by more than 75% of the participants was acceptable.

The main aspects of the model were divided into five categories: identifying the poor, policymaking to prevent the aggravation of health poverty, providing targeted funding, highlighting the importance of coherent regulation and ensuring financial accessibility to health services for the poor. This model could align the activities of all stakeholders in the form of a network and considers its prerequisites.

Prevention of dire financial consequences in the case of referral to follow up the treatment alongside exemption and financial protection policies through the networking activities of organizations involved in this field is a crucial step in securing financial support for the poor. Although the researchers included a wide range of policymakers in the Delphi study to gather all perspectives about options for financially support the poor, there may be some potential neglected policy advices.