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In this vein, this paper aims to provide empirical evidence on the following questions: Which expansion strategies offer better operational and economic performance? What effects does performance-related diversification have? How do other factors such as size, quality, service offered, location or seasonality interact with performance.

In this paper, the analysis of the effects of growth strategies and hotel attributes on performance is carried out with a sample of 255 hotels that operate internationally. Using panel data and quantile regression, this study evaluates the effect of expansion and diversification on the hotels’ performance.

From these findings, it appears that the equity strategy (own hotels) outperforms non-equity strategies (hotels under rental, franchise and management contract) at the operational level. However, the economic return of the property, both adjusted and unadjusted to risk, is lower under the property ownership strategy than under the franchise and management strategies because, in general, it requires a higher investment. Regarding diversification, the growth strategy based on related diversification in food and beverage services has a negative impact on performance, calling into question the synergies between the two businesses. However, an exception to this effect is seen among those hotels, mainly those in the Caribbean, that opt to provide all-inclusive services, since these hotels achieve better occupancy rates and more stable results.

This study has not taken into account the effect of hotel property revaluation on the performance of the ownership strategy, as there is no information on the historical average revaluation at the level of each individual hotel. This study has also been unable to include information regarding the level of competition and seasonality of sales.

This paper considers a wide number of factors that can influence the performance of hotels. Second, this is the only paper that studies the impact of growth strategies from the point of view of the hotel chain. Also, the sample considered uses data at the individual level on hotels and this research analyses not only operational performance but also economic performance.

This study investigates the relationship between working capital investment (WCI) and firm value for Indian manufacturing firms using excess net working capital (NWC) and Tobin's Q as a measure of WCI and firm value, respectively. The study also examines whether firms use the cash released from excess investment in working capital to make long-term investments.

The sample comprises 834 Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) listed Indian manufacturing firms whose data from April 2010 to March 2020 are analyzed using a fixed-effect panel regression analysis approach.

The empirical results show that excess NWC influences firm value negatively and significantly. However, the nature of the relationship becomes nonlinear upon dividing the sample into positive excess NWC and negative excess NWC. The findings from the study also reveal that firms redistribute cash freed from positive excess NWC for long-term investments to improve their value without impacting the corresponding risk.

Overall, the results suggest that firms with positive excess NWC can enhance their valuations by building adequate long-term investments from surplus WCI funds.

To the authors’ best knowledge, studies on this issue have primarily focused on developed economies. No study seems to have been done on this subject in the emerging South Asian economies. The present study is the first to bridge the research gap by investigating the relationship between excess WCI and firm value for manufacturing firms in India. Moreover, it examines whether a positive excess NWC reduction translates into corporate investments (CI).

This article examines the relationship between the cash conversion cycle (CCC) and profitability in countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The authors used dynamic panel methodology to analyze a dataset consisting of 395 firms from nonfinancial sectors in the MENA countries from 2013 to 2018. The authors developed several models consisting of different measures of profitability, CCC and the components of CCC. The control variables were used in the models at different levels.

The results bring out a significantly positive relationship between the CCC and profitability. However, mixed results have been obtained for industry and country details. The quadratic model revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship and the presence of an optimal point of CCC. The robustness checks have confirmed the results of the main models.

The results of the study imply that corporate managers and policymakers ought to pay equal attention to the components of CCC when developing working capital policies and be aware of the optimal level of CCC.

This paper handles the endogeneity problem that is inherent in the relationship. It investigates and confirms the nonlinear characteristics of the relationship. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to use dynamic panel models to examine the CCC and its relationship with profitability in the MENA context.

This study aims to investigate the effect of income and asset diversification on earnings management using discretionary loan loss provisions (LLP) in banks, and the role of risk level in mediating this effect.

A sample of banks operating in Middle East and North Africa countries was used to test the mediation model of Baron and Kenny (1986) with different measures of diversification and risk.

The results show that bank income and asset diversification have unique and combined effects on earnings management. The results also support the idea that a risk-mediating effect contributes to explaining this relationship among banks. Specifically, bank diversification strategies positively affect LLP-based earnings management by increasing bank risk. This result is relevant for conventional banks. However, only a direct and positive effect of diversification strategies on LLP-based earnings management can be observed in Islamic banks, and the indirect effect is not supported.

This study extends previous research by examining the unique and combined effects of income and asset diversification strategies on earnings management in the banking sector. Specifically, it provides new evidence that diversification strategies increase LLP-based earnings management, both directly and indirectly, through bank risk.

The purpose of this study is to see if market timing predicts the first reporting of earnings performance after the issue, i.e. the issue-year earnings performance. Furthermore, this study examines the behaviour of financial and non-financial issuers’ performance in the light of varied market timings.

This study focuses on 785 NSE-listed initial public offerings that took place between April 2010 and December 2021. This study evaluates market timing by using moving averages. Using multiple regression analysis, the research further investigates the impact of market timing on issue-year earnings performance for financial and non-financial issuers on the basis of an interaction (moderation) effect.

This study finds that there is a significant presence of market timing in India, which predicts issue-year earnings performance. This study also demonstrates that hot market issuers’ performance is heavily influenced by market timing for non-financial issuers only. However, financial companies are not influenced by market timing.

The findings of this study will assist the potential investors, analysts and stakeholders about performance of public issuers in India. Lower earnings performance for hot market non-financial issuers implies that the issuers’ market performance may not be supported by earnings figures. A market performance that is not synchronous with earnings will not last long. The findings of this study hold implications to the regulators as well to keep an eye on issuers’ earnings performance alongside the stock performance. Apart from that, the observations in context of financial and non-financial issuers provide insight about the variation in performance of public issues on the basis of background.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the only study to examine earnings performance in the context of market timing in India. This study holds significance in terms of methodology for anticipating the presence of market timing and the study of interaction effects. Moreover, it is one of the few studies that has focused on comparing financial and non-financial issuers around the world.

This study comprehensively reviews the global literature on busy boards and audit committees.

Six eight articles on busy boards and audit committees from prominent accounting journals are reviewed and analyzed under the “reputation” and “busyness” premise.

Most studies advocating the “reputation” hypothesis have the consensus that busy directors have their benefits (knowledge spillovers), particularly regarding sharing their in-depth knowledge, experiences and expertise. This phenomenon is pronounced for younger and IPO firms, which have high advising and financing needs. From the “busyness” perspective, busy directors are too overboard in carrying out their duty effectively and responsibly.

This study identifies future research avenues on busy boards/audit committees and suggests that policymakers and regulators should limit the number of board appointments.

This is the first study to extensively amalgamate research on busy directors and audit committees. It reveals the various proxies used to measure the busyness of board and audit committee members and the consequences of busyness.

This study aims to test the market anomaly of herding behavior driven by the response to supply chain disruptions in extreme market conditions such as those observed during COVID-19. The authors empirically test the response of the capital market participants for B2B firms, resulting in herding behavior.

Using the event study approach based on the market model, the authors test the impact of supply chain disruptions and resultant herding behavior across six sectors and among different B2B firms. The authors used cumulative average abnormal returns (CAAR) and cross-sectional absolute deviation (CSAD) to examine the significance of herding behavior across sectors.

The event study results show a significant effect of COVID-19 due to supply chain disruptions across specific sectors. Herding was detected across the automotive and pharmaceutical sectors. The authors also provide evidence of sector-specific disruption impact and herding behavior based on the black swan event and social learning theory.

The authors examine the impact of COVID-19 on herding in the stock market of an emerging economy due to extreme market conditions. This is one of the first studies analyzing lockdown-driven supply chain disruptions and subsequent sector-specific herding behavior. Investors and regulators should take sector-specific responses that are sophisticated during extreme market conditions, such as a pandemic, and update their responses as the situation unfolds.

This paper aims to investigate the perceptions of financial accountants and both internal and external auditors regarding the impact of corporate governance (CG) and information technology (IT) on the detection and prevention of fraud within organizations.

Primary data were collected from 250 financial accountants, internal auditors and external auditors through questionnaires. The non-probability snowball sampling technique was used for data collection, with the sample t-test, one-way ANOVA and paired sample t-test applied for analysis.

The results indicate that robust CG practices and IT techniques significantly aid in detecting and reducing fraudulent activities by minimizing opportunities, rationalizations, pressures and capabilities of potential employees to commit fraud. Internal controls also play a significant role in reducing instances of fraud. Notably, ethical officers and ethical training were not perceived as significantly effective in preventing and detecting fraud, leading to a perception that fraudulent practices are prevalent and increasing the risk of future fraudulent activities.

This study recommends the adoption of strong CG practices to identify potential fraud within an organization. Moreover, IT techniques should be tailored to specific needs for effective utilization. Furthermore, the government should increase awareness regarding data provision by departments, organizations and other related personnel. Future research could use secondary data from various regions to expand the literature in this field.

This research uniquely combines three significant factors: CG, IT and forensic accounting in fraud detection and prevention. It contributes to the enhancement of literature about fraud and its preventive and detective measures. The results of this study set the seed for future research, government policymaking and enhanced organizational practices.

I seek to identify whether cash flow management can affect the performance and risk of the Greek listed companies.

This study examines the relationship of cash flow management with performance and risk, using a sample of 80 non-financial companies listed in the Athens Exchange. The study covers the period 2018–2022, and panel data analysis is applied. Both financial performance and stock return are taken into consideration, while risk concerns the volatility of the companies’ share prices. The various explanatory variables used include the net cash flow, free cash flow, cash conversion cycle days, cash flow from operating activities, cash flow from investing activities, cash flow from financing activities, inventory days, customer days and supplier days.

The empirical results provide evidence of a positive relationship between financial performance and net cash flow and free cash flow. In addition, operating cash flow is positively related to financial performance. The opposite is the case for investing and financing cash flow. Finally, some evidence of a negative relationship between financial performance and inventory and customer days is provided too. On the other hand, stock return and risk are not related to the cash flow management variables at all.

To the best of my knowledge, this is one of the few studies to examine the relationship of cash flow management with performance and risk, using data from the Greek stock market. The results can form an effective selection tool for investors seeking Greek companies with the highest financial performance potential, which may reward them with higher dividends.

This paper aims to examine the informational value of credit rating changes for investors. The article analyses whether credit rating changes indicate the future financial performance of a firm.

The study employs pooled time-series cross-section regression technique and two-sample t-test for analysis. The paper utilizes a firm's operating profit as a proxy of its future financial performance to understand what inference can be drawn about future financial performance from a change in a firm's credit rating.

The paper finds that a firm operating profit declines in the year after a credit rating downgrade. However, no such significant relationship is evident in the case of a rating upgrade. The results are consistent across rating categories and individual years of the sample period.

The study uses non-financial corporate rating data; hence, the findings may not apply to credit rating changes in financial corporates and structured finance.

Investors and analysts can incorporate credit rating downgrade by CRAs as a key input in a firm's future financial forecast. Analysts and investment managers can also look at credit rating changes of firms in the same industry and draw a definite conclusion about which firm is likely to see a higher deterioration in performance.

The author has not come across any literature that directly investigates credit rating changes from the perspective of information content about future financial performance.