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Combatting corruption is an important social and commercial issue in most human societies. Many researchers have revealed how an effective anti-corruption practice can possibly minimise corruption in an organisation. However, studies focusing on organisations which are relatively successful in managing corruption at the employee level are relatively rare. On this note, this study aims to focus on Grameen Bank in particular, a Nobel-Prize-winning microfinance institute that was able to minimise its level of corruption among its employees in a country where corruption is the norm.

This paper uses standard economic theory to explain the perceptions and behaviours of the employees of Grameen Bank who live and work in a highly corrupt socio-cultural environment. This paper used questionnaires to ascertain the perceptions of Grameen Bank employees’ notions regarding corruption-combating behaviours. Interviews were also conducted among Grameen’s board members, managers and officers to further explore the nature and effectiveness of this organisation’s anti-corruption mechanisms.

Corruption can never be entirely eradicated; however, it can be diminished and opportunities for corruption can be minimised. This paper found, through an analysis of employees’ perceptions relating to governance and corruption in the Grameen Bank, that corruption exists, but there are systems in place to prevent it and to assist with staff morality. This research also uncovered a number of best practices in Grameen Bank’s governance to minimise corrupt behaviours, which include, but are not limited to, strong monitoring, decentralisation of authority, review of decision-making process, high internal audit intensity, impersonal punishment, anti-corruption cultures and transparency.

This study suggests that it is possible for organisations to resist corruption, especially microfinance institutions, even when they operate in a highly corrupt socio-cultural environment.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures and earnings quality proxied by earnings accruals. Specifically, we examine whether CSR disclosures are context-specific, that is, whether companies dominated by powerful stakeholders are obliged to behave in a responsible manner to constrain earnings management, thereby reporting higher-quality earnings to investors.

This paper explores the relationship between CSR disclosures and earnings quality proxied by earnings accruals. Specifically, we examine whether CSR disclosures are context-specific, that is, whether companies dominated by powerful stakeholders are obliged to behave in a responsible manner to constrain earnings management, thereby reporting higher-quality earnings to investors.

Results show that managers in an emerging economy manage earnings when they provide more CSR disclosures. Such earnings management is achieved through income increasing discretionary accruals. Furthermore, companies from export-oriented industries dominated by powerful stakeholders (international buyers) disclosing more CSR activities, provide transparent financial reports through constraining earnings management.

The findings of this study are significant for both investors and policymakers. Investors should not take for granted that firms engage in CSR activities, behave ethically and provide transparent financial reports. As we document that firms might manipulate earnings through discretionary accruals and provide less transparent financial reports to shareholders, the credibility of firms’ CSR policies should be assessed with caution. Policies directing at promoting socially responsible practices instead of motivating the desired behaviour, may provide managers with additional incentives to utilise CSR for opportunistic behaviour. Thus, policymakers need to be cautious about this opportunistic behaviour and enhance monitoring to enforce social compliance. Possibly, some guidelines can be introduced to confirm that CSR disclosures are based on actual practice and not just a “green wash” statement to deceive stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between risk governance and bank performance in a country where disclosure of risk information is virtually voluntary.

Using 210 bank-year observations comprising hand-collected data for the period 2006-2012, the study uses regression analysis to test whether a significant relationship exists between risk governance and banks’ accounting- and market-based performance.

This paper investigates risk governance in terms of risk disclosure, number of risk committees and existence of a risk management unit, controlling for other corporate governance variables. Accounting-based performance is measured by return on equity and return on assets; market-based performance is measured by Tobin’s q and buy-and-hold returns. The results show that there is a significant relationship between risk governance and bank performance measures used in this study.

This paper complements the governance literature by incorporating agency and neo-institutional theory to provide robust evidence that risk monitoring and management are associated with bank performance, which has become extremely important following the global financial crisis (2007-2008).

Empirical evidence in this paper suggests that risk governance characteristics can be used as channels to improve bank performance. In addition, stakeholders may find these results useful in selecting their preferred bank.

The uniqueness of this paper lies in its country setting. Most studies on governance and performance involve developed countries. This paper’s contribution is to examine the association of risk governance characteristics for both accounting-based and market-based performance in a developing economy setting, with virtually voluntary compliance mechanisms in place.

The purpose of this study is to illuminate the disclosure of biodiversity material contained in the reported information of 151 local government authorities (LGAs) in New South Wales, Australia. The introduction of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (an international treaty to sustain the rich diversity of life on earth) has made the issue of fauna management and monitoring, and the associated requirement for cost-effective information, much more important. As local communities are best placed to make decisions about the protection of their local environments, the content in external reports and other disclosures allows stakeholders to gauge how accountable LGAs are regarding the conservation of biodiversity within their geographical jurisdiction.

Content analysis was used to analyze the disclosures of these LGAs.

The results reveal marked differences in the reporting of biodiversity issues. In fact, LGAs in the state of New South Wales (Australia) have been, at best, lukewarm in their disclosure of strategic information relating to biodiversity, particularly in their strategic goals and plans.

This paper contributes to the academic literature on biodiversity reporting by investigating existing reporting practices and providing evidence that a universally adopted framework for biodiversity reporting and reporting of local native fauna is required. In particular, the impacts of these practices need to be properly understood for LGAs to provide accountability to their stakeholders.

The Managerial Auditing Journal (MAJ) started publication in 1986 and celebrates its 35th year of publication in 2020. The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed bibliometric analysis of the journal’s primary trends and themes between 1986 and 2019.

This study uses the Scopus database to analyse the most prolific authors in the MAJ along with their affiliated institutions and countries; the work also identifies the MAJ articles cited most often by other journals. A range of bibliometric devices is applied to analyse the publication and citation structure of MAJ, alongside performance analysis and science mapping tools. The study also provides a detailed inter-temporal analysis of MAJ publishing patterns.

The MAJ publishes around 40 articles each year with citations of this work steadily growing over time. The journal has attracted contributors from around the globe, most often affiliated with the USA, the UK and Australia. Thematic evolution of the journal’s themes reveals that it has expanded its scope to include topics such as internal auditing, internal control and corporate governance, whilst co-authorship analysis reveals that the journal’s collaboration network has grown to span the globe.

As this study uses data from the Scopus database, any shortcomings therein will be reflected in the study.

This study provides the first overview of the MAJ’s publication and citation trends as well as the evolution of its thematic structure. It also suggests future directions that the journal might take.

The purpose of this paper is to, the first of its kind, investigate the relationship between the intellectual capital efficiency and organisational performance of the pharmaceutical sector in Bangladesh, an emerging economy that enjoys Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) relaxation.

The study used hand-picked data from annual reports for five years. The relationship between efficient use of intellectual capital and corporate performance was examined through the practical use of human capital, structural capital and capital employed. Multiple regressions were used to assess their impact on financial performance – specifically, return on assets, return on equity, asset turnover and market-to-book value.

Value-added intellectual coefficient components (i.e. human capital, structural capital and capital employed) significantly explained asset turnover and return on assets but failed to predict the return on equity outcome. Additionally, asset turnover was negatively influenced by structural capital and positively influenced by capital employed. The return on assets was mostly affected by variation in human capital. Intellectual capital did not predict market-to-book value or investment decisions.

This paper provides useful resources for evaluating the financial performance and value creation of companies in emerging economies that enjoy TRIPS exemptions; this research could also be extended using cross-industry comparisons. The findings have theoretical and practical implications, particularly for the pharmaceutical industry in emerging economy contexts, and for managers globally.

This study is among only a few that have reported on the relationship between intellectual capital efficiency and value creation in emerging economy contexts.

Shorter lead time with low price and quality product demand is pivotal in the garment industry. Pressure on production lead time stresses the importance of reducing style changeover time in manufacturing factories, and this paper aims to contribute to solving the challenge by showing how the single minute exchange of die (SMED) methodology in practice can be adapted to garment factories in developing countries.

The paper investigates three cases of SMED implementation integrated with responsible, accountable, consulted, informed (RACI) matrices in garment factories in an action research approach. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are applied.

The study shows a reduction of 50% to 64% of changeover time with SMED implementation measured with two key indicators – throughout time and time to reach peak production. Moreover, the implementation depends on the application of the RACI matrix for the distribution of responsibility as well as integration with the basic production flow before and after the application of SMED.

The study can guide better SMED implementation in garment factories with limited investment by stressing the need to adapt to the specifics of the garment industry, secure the division of responsibility and integrate SMED in the production flow before and after the changeover.

Limited research on the application of SMED in the garment industry. This paper contributes to understanding the specific conditions for successful implementation in the garment industry in developing countries and addresses additional activities that help secure a sustainable implementation process.

In this study the authors examine the nature and contents of key audit matters (KAMs), and the consequences of KAMs reporting on audit quality in the context of a developing country, Bangladesh. The authors’ proxies of audit qualities are discretionary accruals, small positive earnings surprise, audit report lag, earnings management via below the line items and audit fees.

The authors use content analysis of the KAMs for the period 2018–2021 to understand the nature and extent of KAMs reported by auditors in Bangladesh. The authors then use multivariate regression analysis to examine the effect of the number and content characteristics of KAMs on audit quality by using multivariate regression analysis.

Auditors in Bangladesh disclose a higher number of KAMs compared to other countries, disclose short descriptions of KAMs and industry generic KAMs. The authors document significant cross-sectional variations in the number and content characteristics of KAMs reported by auditors in Bangladesh. The authors’ pre-post analysis suggest that audit quality has improved after the adoption of KAMs. Cross-sectional analysis suggests that KAMs number and content characteristics are related to audit quality.

The authors’ findings imply that the KAMs reporting has the potential to play significant monitoring role in reducing the opportunistic behavior of managers. Hence, KAMs reporting can play a significant role in reducing the agency problem. For regulators, shareholders and corporate managers, the authors’ findings imply that if the audit quality is to be increased, the audit effort should be supported by an appropriate amount of audit fee.

The content characteristics of KAMs significantly influence managerial reporting behavior and affect the level of audit efforts.

Unlike developed countries (Gutierrez et al., 2018; Lennox et al. 2022), this study supports that KAMs reporting improves audit quality and control opportunistic behavior of managers in developing countries. The authors show that even though the KAMs disclosure quality is poor, it has the potential to improve financial reporting quality.

The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent risk disclosure is associated with banks’ governance characteristics. The research also focuses on how the business environment and culture may create a bank’s awareness of risk management and its disclosure. This study is conducted in a setting where banks are not mandated to follow international standards for their risk disclosures.

Using 300 bank-year observations comprising hand-collected private commercial bank data, the study uses regression analysis to investigate the influence of risk governance characteristics on risk disclosure.

This paper reports a positive relationship between risk disclosure and banks’ governance characteristics, such as the presence of various risk committees and a risk management unit.

Because studies are lacking on risk disclosure and risk governance conducted in developing countries, it is expected that this research will make a significant contribution to the literature and provide a foundation for further research in this field.

This study complements the corporate governance literature, more specifically the risk governance literature, by incorporating agency theory, institutional theory and proprietary cost theory to provide robust evidence of the impact of risk governance practices in the context of a developing economy.

Previous studies on risk disclosure and governance determinants primarily involve developed countries. This paper’s contribution is to examine risk disclosure and risk governance characteristics in a developing country in which reporting according to international standards is effectively voluntary.

This study aims to examine the strategies that auditors in Bangladesh follow in identifying and reporting key audit matters (KAMs). The study also examines the factors affecting auditors’ strategies in the identification and disclosures of KAMs.

The authors have conducted interviews with audit partners, chief financial officers (CFOs) and regulators involved in KAMs reporting and monitoring. The authors have used the lens of institutional theory of coercive, mimetic and normative isomorphism and the concept of decoupling.

Auditors have used a decoupling strategy by identifying and reporting greater number of industry-generic KAMs than that of other countries in an effort to minimize risks and avoid regulatory scrutiny, although they disclose remote risks as KAMs and mask severe problem areas of the client. Because of the principle-based approach of International Standards on Auditing (ISA) 701 and because of the pressure and misunderstanding from the audit committee, auditors report industry-generic items and generic descriptions of KAMs.

The findings have important implications for the standard setters and local and global audit firms for the diffusion of new auditing standards in different jurisdictions. Without the development of audit firm-level capability and the corporate governance environment, changes in standards may not be effective in achieving the objectives of the standards.

Although auditors consider that the KAMs reporting requirements provide with opportunities to enhance audit profession’s legitimacy and public trusts, the actual KAMs reporting practices are driven by the market logic, an urge to maintain the status quo with clients and eventual rationalization of the impairment of professional independence.

Given the dearth of prior research on the implementation and diffusion patterns of ISA 701 KAMs reporting, this study fills the gap in the literature. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first known study to examine auditors’ strategic responses to balance among conflicting priorities in reporting KAMs.