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The purpose of this case study is to explore whether Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) complies with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure practices for the period 2014–2019.

By analysing both annual and sustainability reports of the bank using content analysis for each Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) category, 100 universal standards, 200 economic standards, 300 environmental standards, 400 social standards. The authors then compute and discuss the degree of compliance of ADIB disclosures by using annual charts and graphs.

Results show that, although ADIB issues sustainability reports, numerous GRI standards do not appear in the bank’s reports such as general disclosures GRI 102, economic disclosures items such as anti-competitive behaviour GRI 206 and environmental disclosures such as gas emissions GRI 305 due to the nature of bank’s activities. However, the bank focuses mainly on social standards GRI 400 including community services, training and development. Hence, ADIB partially complies with the GRI standards (2016) especially social disclosures.

The study encompasses some limitations: first, due to the discretionary nature of CSR reporting, many items were ignored or missed for the full period. Second, the disclosure of a sustainability report by the company was only available for the year 2017, which, in turn, makes it difficult for comparison.

The findings of this study have important implications for academics and researchers, and practitioners as they pave the way for further investigation regarding CSR compliance of Islamic financial institutions. The results also have important implications for Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions in developing a CSR reporting standard if Islamic banks are to enhance their image globally and to maintain competitive advantages.

This paper contributes to the growing debate on CSR disclosures in the Islamic banking industry by comparing ADIB practices with regard to the GRI standards.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors affecting firm voluntary disclosure policy adopted by a sample of 25 UAE companies listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) for the period 2010-2014.

The author computes a weighted disclosure index (Botosan, 1997) for three-factor voluntary disclosure items and uses a multivariate regression analysis between disclosure index and a set of explanatory variables identified by previous research. The author also controls for endogeneity problem and uses panel data estimation.

It has been found that listing history, governmental sector, firm profitability and foreign listing positively affect the level of voluntary disclosure adopted by ADX listed companies. By contrast, the percentage of shares owned by block holders and industrial sector negatively affect the level of voluntary disclosure by ADX listed companies. Finally, the board and firm size, managers’ stock options and the leverage ratio do not have any impact on the level of voluntary disclosure adopted by ADX firms. The results remain unchanged to additional sensitivity checks.

The research presents some limitations: first, the author does not take into account all voluntary disclosure items such as human resources and environmental data disclosed by ADX listed firms. Second, other voluntary disclosure determinants remain unexplored for UAE firms such as culture and tax incentives in the light of the new tax rules including corporate tax and value-added tax.

The study has many implications: first, it can help investors in their decision making and lead to fair allocation of resources. Second, it gives helpful directives to UAE accounting authorities to enhance the quality of financial reporting in the light of the New Commercial Company Law 2015 for mandatory adoption of IFRS by all listed companies. The paper also presents helpful directives for tax authorities planning for both company and value-added taxes. It also sheds light on factors driving corporate social responsibility disclosures as a crucial component of voluntary disclosure policy

The paper explores the new determinants of voluntary disclosure such as foreign listing, governmental status and block holding for an emerging relatively unexplored stock market: ADX.

This paper aims to highlight the relationship between the attributes of external auditor companies and voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures of audited firms using a sample of Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)-listed companies.

Based on a sample of 410 firm-year observations for the period 2010–2016, this study first computes an eight-item CSR disclosure index, then ran a multivariate regression analysis between CSR disclosure scores and external auditor attributes, along with client firm characteristics and additional control variables. Finally, this paper performs various additional robustness checks.

The results reveal that external auditor attributes have a significant impact on shaping the CSR disclosures of ADX-listed firms. Overall, auditor age, size, industry specialisation and portfolio diversification positively affect the level of customers’ CSR disclosures. By contrast, the magnitude of audit fees and auditor experience in the UAE has no impact on the CSR disclosures of ADX-listed firms. This study controls for client firm size, financial leverage, ownership concentration and the proportion of independent directors on companies’ board of directors. The results remain robust to additional sensitivity checks such as audit company CSR practices, extreme quartiles of CSR disclosures and the panel data estimation method.

The research exhibits some limitations. First, this paper uses a simple index to measure CSR disclosures based on previous empirical studies, especially those related to emergent markets, which are not free from bias due to the lack of voluntary disclosure transparency for some companies listed on ADX. Second, although this study uses a seven-year observation period, the total number of observations remains limited due to ADX size. Third, other context-specific disclosures should be included such as cultural and governance variables (royal families ownership).

The study highlights the role of external attributes that can affect companies’ CSR disclosure policy, rather than firm-specific factors. The study also reshapes the concept of auditor quality beyond the dichotomy (“Big Four”/non-Big Four) used in the current literature.

The research adds to the current literature on CSR by revealing the impact of external auditor attributes on client firm CSR disclosure policy in an emerging market, the ADX.

This paper aims to explore whether environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance is positively associated with firm investment efficiency (IE) in emerging economies. It also examines whether board cultural diversity can moderate the ESG–IE relationship.

This paper uses a cross-country sample of listed firms located in seven emerging countries over the 2011–2019 period. The authors use a fixed effect panel regression to empirically test the hypotheses. The authors also use a lagged model and a Heckman’s (1979) two-stage procedure to mitigate potential endogeneity issues. In addition, a two-stage least squares regression analysis was done as an additional robustness check.

This study finds that firms with stronger ESG performance have a higher investment efficiency. Interestingly, this study finds that board cultural diversity negatively moderates the impact of ESG performance on IE for firms operating in settings prone to overinvestment. This result suggests that ESG performance plays a less important role in mitigating managers' tendencies to overinvest when corporate boards have more foreign directors. However, the authors do not find such evidence in firms prone to underinvestment. These findings hold after using an alternative measure of IE and controlling for endogeneity concerns.

This paper adds to the existing body of knowledge in three dimensions. First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first cross-country study that investigates the linkage between ESG performance and corporate IE in the context of emerging countries. Second, the authors have enriched the prior literature by examining the moderating effect of board cultural diversity on the positive association between ESG performance and corporate IE. Finally, this study has important implications for policymakers and capital suppliers in emerging countries, which strive to facilitate the efficient allocation of scarce resources.

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on earnings management practice for a sample of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Islamic banks (IBs) using a new model of earnings management.

First, the authors estimate discretionary accruals based on loan loss provisions discretionary loan loss provision (DLLP) using the procedure derived from Jones’ (1991) original model. Second, the authors run a multivariate regression model to check the linkage between corporate governance characteristics and discretionary loan loss provision. Finally, the authors use an additional sensitivity check analysis to assess whether the results are robust to the estimation procedure and to other exogenous factors.

Using as sample of 26 IBs pertaining to the GCC region with a total of 223 firm-year observations and a nine-year period (2004-2012), the results are conclusive and show that first, IBs with large Shariah Board size manage less DLLP. Secondly, Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions membership positively impacts earnings management through DLLP in IBs. Third, there is a negative relationship between boards of director’s independence the extent to which IBs manage DLLP. Fourth, the existence of block holders positively affects earnings management by IBs. Fifth, there is a negative relationship between audit committee meetings and DLLP. Finally, institutional ownership and bank size have no effect on earnings management through DLLPs.

In this research, the authors do not take into account all governance factors that are supposed to impact earnings management in IBs. Future research should explore the impact of additional IBs governance structures including chief executive officer bonus, experience, gender and the extent to which IBs use real earnings management with Murabaha, Mudaraba and Musharaka transactions.

The paper is a very useful source of information that may provide relevant guidelines in helping the future development of corporate governance of IBs. In addition, the findings could prove to be useful for regulators because they are responsible for the acceptable level of corporate governance standards. Thus, they must consider strengthening governance mechanisms either through new legislation or stronger enforcement where earnings management is of such magnitude to that serious impedes information transparency and financial reporting quality of IBs.

This study associates the corporate governance characteristics with earnings management by IBs. The study contributes to the growing body of literature on earnings management and corporate governance in IBs. It should be useful to researchers, regulators, investors, analysts and creditors as well as other players in the capital markets, as it presents a new and important aspect that needs to be accounted for when assessing the quality of IBs’ accounting information in GCC countries.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained great attention among regulators, stock market authorities, and firms' stakeholders for many decades. In this chapter, we first review the main regulations, standards, and laws issued by UAE federal authorities namely the Company Commercial Law of 2015, the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) disclosure guidance of 2019, Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, and UAE CSR platform. Second, we present a summary of the empirical research on CSR issues in UAE context, namely in the following four fields: (1) CSR determinants both at the micro and macro levels, (2) CSR measures in the three pillars (environmental, social, and governance), (3) the impact of CSR policy and practices on financial performance/market value, (4) and the role of some mediating/moderating variables such as leadership and board gender diversity. Results show greater compliance to CSR standards among different industries and institutions but heterogenous empirical findings in the four explored fields. While there is crucial alignment with both social and environmental standards as evidenced by numerous empirical studies, additional efforts should be deployed to highlight the governance pillar through firms' discretionary reporting. Our survey provides useful directives and outcomes as it portrays both legal aspects coupled with some empirical evidence of CSR issues in the UAE context. Our study helps corporations to comply with local standards on sustainability reporting and highlights the potential economic benefits and advantages for firms adopting CSR strategy. Furthermore, it can be considered as the cornerstone for regulatory bodies in the United Arab Emirates when issuing/enhancing new standards/rules on CSR practices.

In response to recent financial corporate scandals, this study aims to provide a helpful understanding for investors and accounting regulators on how firms manage their reported earnings. This leads to a better firm valuation by financial intermediaries and more useful accounting standards.

Estimating discretionary accruals and opportunistic special purpose entities and using a simultaneous equation approach, the aim is to check how managers trade off between such tools of earnings management. Based on real earnings manipulation and accruals management of earnings, the goal is to understand if such tools are used simultaneously or as substitute by firms.

After controlling for each cost determinants of such earnings management tool, firms use discretionary accruals and financial engineering with special purpose entities as substitutes. Additional analyses show that managers use such tools in a sequential process. Indeed, they first use special purpose entities during the course of the year but they manipulate discretionary accruals especially at the end of the year.

Despite sensitivity checks, measurement error in discretionary accruals proxy and opportunistic SPE estimation model remains an alternative explanation for the results. The sample size and the lack of accurate information about the size of special purpose entities may limit the extent of the findings.

It is a very useful tool for regulators when they plan to disclose new accounting standards. For investors, this study can help them in assessing the firm's value more accurately for investing and financing purposes.

Providing a new methodology and new models to detect pervasive earnings management strategies adopted by firms.