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We examine the relationship between tax-related accounting misstatements and changes in the uncertain tax benefits accrual account in the year of the disclosure of a misstatement. We find that the disclosure of a tax-related misstatement is associated with an increase in unrecognized tax benefits during that year. We show that the increase in unrecognized tax benefits in the year of disclosure is from uncertain tax positions taken in prior periods. Overall, this finding is consistent with increase in financial reporting conservatism upon disclosure of tax-related accounting misstatement.

This study aims to examine the literature from the Web of Science database published on board committees between 2002 and 2023 and outline the quantitative summary, journey of board committees’ research and suggest future research directions.

This study examines bibliometric-content analysis combined with a systematic literature review of articles on board committees to document the summary of the field. The authors used co-citation, co-occurrence and cluster analysis under bibliometric-content analysis to present the field summary.

Board committee composition, such as their gender, independence and expertise, as well as factors affecting corporate governance, such as reporting quality, earnings management and board monitoring, all have a significant impact on board committee literature. The field is getting growing attention from authors, journals and countries. Nevertheless, there is a need for further exploration in areas like expertise, member age and tenure, the economic crisis and the nomination and remuneration committee, which have not yet received sufficient attention.

This paper has both theoretical and practical contributions. From a theoretical perspective, this study substantiates the prevalence of agency theory within board committee literature, reinforcing the foundational role of agency theory in shaping discussions about board committees. On practical ground, the comprehensive overview of board committee literature offers scholars a road map for navigating this field and directing their future research journey. The identification of research gaps in certain areas serves as a catalyst for scholars to explore untapped dimensions, enabling them to strengthen the essence of the committees’ performance.

This study aims to review the auditor-client relationship (ACR) literature spanning 1976 to 2019 to provide future research directions.

The study analysed 140 articles from the Web of Science database, authored by 259 scholars across 28 countries and published in 47 journals. It identified three major research streams to understand the ACR dynamics: auditor tenure, ACR attributes and auditor-client negotiation.

Three major findings emerged based on this review. First, few studies examine auditor-client negotiation relative to other streams; thus, it offers scope for further research. Second, given that various fields have used diverse frameworks as theoretical underpinnings in prior studies, continuing this trend can better portray ACR from multiple perspectives. Finally, despite strong international regulations on ACR aspects such as auditor independence, tenure and rotation, implementation in several countries warrants special considerations, specifically on legal enforcement and investor protection, given diverse cultures and country-level institutional environments.

This study contributes to the synthesis of existing and emerging research streams and provides future research suggestions.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relation between two dimensions of auditor quality, namely, auditor industry specialization and auditor reputation and the audit report lag.

The data collection focuses on companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the financial year of 2010 and 2011. To ensure data homogeneity and reduce industry bias, this study focuses solely on manufacturing companies identified by the Indonesian Capital Market Directory.

This study finds a negative and significant association between industry-specialist auditors and audit report timeliness. Companies audited by industry-specialist auditors have shorter audit delays. The authors also find evidence that Big 4 auditors perform significantly faster audit work than their non-Big 4 counterparts. In addition, this study reports a statistical and significant relationship between auditing complexity, companies’ profitability, auditors’ business risk, and industry classification and audit report lag. The results show that firms with a large number of subsidiaries and firms experiencing poorer financial performance are found to be associated with longer reporting delays. Moreover, audit report timeliness is found to be faster for companies in the low-profile industry sector and owned by family members.

Similar to other empirical investigations, this study is not without certain caveats. First, the period of audit report lag in this study reflects the audit work from the year-end to the audit report date. The authors do not consider audit work conducted outside this period in the analysis. Second, there are numerous control variables and although the authors have attempted to capture those variables to maintain the integrity of the research there are likely other excluded variables that may be important in explaining audit report timeliness. Finally, there are other factors, for example, an administrative approval process with the audit firm home office, which can affect audit report lags but have not been included in the model analysis. Future studies can seek to focus on refinements to the proxy measures for dependent and experimental variables.

Insights drawn from this study may be of assistance to policy makers as they consider the costs and benefits associated with varying levels of audit market concentration as well as providing a snapshot of the level of non-compliance on audit timeliness in Indonesia.

This study provides further empirical evidence on the relation between auditor quality and audit report lag using data from a different domestic setting. This study also enriches the auditor quality literature by employing industry-specialist and Big 4 auditors as a predictor for the timeliness of audit reports.

The unending ambivalence in the academic environment and the job market is detrimental to management graduates' wellbeing. The study looks into the possible intervening methods to enhance the wellbeing of students during difficult times. The study proposes spirituality development as means through which psychological resources like perceived employability and psychological capital are developed in an individual. This study also tries to identify how spirituality development leads to life wellbeing among management students.

Cross-sectional study was conducted among 212 management students from Kerala, India. Multi-stage random sampling was used to collect data. Structural equation modelling using IBM-AMOS was done to gain insights into the proposed relationships.

The results indicated that spirituality had a significant impact on the wellbeing of management students. Both perceived employability and psychological capital mediated the relationship between spirituality and life wellbeing.

The positive impact of developing spirituality among students is discussed in the paper with the theoretical underpinning of broaden and build theory. The findings suggest that colleges should try to make their campus climate more supportive of students' non-academic needs and open them to a spiritual environment especially during these challenging times.

The study is one of the first attempts to discern how spirituality development leads to an accumulation of psychological resources and life wellbeing among management graduates'.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of sustainability disclosure (SD) as a mediator for the relationship between corporate governance (CG) and the performance of firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE).

The study analysed 405 reports of firms listed on the ASE from 2014 to 2018. The direct and indirect impact of governance mechanisms on the firms' performance was examined using STATA 15. A four-step procedure for testing mediation was used to determine the mediating role of SD.

The results demonstrated that the board and audit committees' effectiveness positively and significantly influences the firm's performance. Additionally, the results demonstrated that SD partially mediates the relationship between CG and the firm's performance.

Research implications – This study supported the assumptions of agency, resource dependence and stakeholder theories as the basis to explain the relationship among board’s effectiveness, audit committee’s effectiveness, sustainability report and firm performance in developing economies. In addition, the results suggested that CG helps to enhance the firm's performance and sustainability reporting. Firms providing sustainable report are deemed more responsible and attract more returns to firms. Research limitations – The study only focused on reports from five years for non-financial firms listed on the ASE to test the assumed relationship between the variables.

This study contributed to the body of knowledge by examining the mediating role of SD between CG and firm performance. Investors, managers and regulators can obtain further insights, especially those seeking to improve a firm's performance in the emerging markets, through a sound CG system and extensive sustainability reporting.

This study focused on the direct and indirect impacts of CG and firm performance in an emerging and developing economy. The study used SD as the mediating variable in examining the indirect effect.

This paper advances the argument that misappropriation of public funds should be construed as illicit financial flows (IFFs) which, undoubtedly, have an adverse effect on the realisation of the right to development. Furthermore, by detailing the nature of IFFs, this paper aims to demystify the shallow understanding of what is IFF or what are IFFs and why misappropriation of public funds should be seen in that light.

This paper examines and interrogates the different judgements that have been delivered in cases tried and finalised by the special criminal court (SCC). With viewpoints that are backed by a theoretical understanding of Cameroonian criminal law in particular and criminal law in general, an analysis of the underlying intentions, motives and trajectories in the commission of misappropriation of public funds corroborate the view that the offence must be construed as IFFs. The data used in this paper are primary.

A few pertinent findings were made in the course of this research. Firstly, the offence of misappropriation of public funds and IFFs are not distinct, and any effort to limit the use of “funds” to finances will ultimately miss the point as property with financial value will definitely amount to funds. Secondly, through misappropriation of public funds/property, IFFs have been committed based on the trends and figures disclosed in the judgements of the SCC. Finally, the right to development requires resources and by stealing public funds, resources are deprived, thereby compromising the realisation of development and the right to development.

This paper examines the impact of IFFs on the right to development within the context of Cameroon. By diagnosing the definition of the crime of misappropriation of public property or funds, the paper argues that such an offence must be seen as IFFs given its nature, the motive and intention underlying its perpetration. By taking such perspectives, this paper not only adds to the literature thereon but further brings in new perspectives on those aspects of Cameroonian criminal law.

In total, 10 years since the establishment of the Special Criminal Court (SCC) in Cameroon to deal with a specific kind of corruption, one may wonder whether any achievements have been made so far in fulfilling its mandate and also assuaging the tense and toxic perception that the Court was established as an arsenal to witch-hunt political opponents. This study aims to look into the work done so far in this regard, and makes an assessment as to whether any accomplishments have been made in the first decade of its establishment.

This paper takes an evidence-based approach in seeking answers to what accomplishments, if any, have been made by the Court, explores the notion of corruption within Cameroon’s legislative and institutional landscape prior to the establishment of the Court and looks into the profiles of those who have been indicted by the SCC for that crime; the amounts that were misappropriated and for which they were convicted; the sentences imposed. It identifies some outstanding cases: where the amounts misappropriated exceeded a threshold and asks the question of what made it possible for these individuals to misappropriate such huge sums of money?

The inconsistencies and irrationality in the sentencing are a few findings made. Added to those is the timing of the establishment of the Court which, as most have perceived, is a political witch-hunting aimed at bringing credibility to a failed regime, as well as deal with a few political “irresponsibles” who were once the president’s buddies.

This research unravels key insights into the functioning of the SCC. It advances the knowledge thereon and adds to the literature on corruption in Cameroon.

The establishment of the SCC is commendable. However, as it deals with but a particular kind of corruption, it might be necessary to rethink the need of additional institutional mechanisms that have specialized jurisdiction to deal with the different kinds of corruption in Cameroon.

The paper highlights the entrenched nature of corruption in the social fabrics of Cameroonian society, and exposes the need for a much holistic approach in dealing with corruption, as the SCC offers but one institutional mechanism toward that direction.

This paper, given the issues discussed therein, and considering the dearth of literature on the topic, advances the literature on the SCC in particular and the problem of endemic corruption in Cameroon in general.

This paper aims to discuss how religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals may view the three core workplace spiritual values: transcendence, existence of a higher power and interconnectedness. Additionally, this paper studies how the contrasts between the views of religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals about the three core spiritual values affect their performance of social responsibility initiatives.

A conceptual analysis was used.

This paper suggests that religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals view the three core spiritual values differently. Drawing upon the three core spiritual values viewed by religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals, this paper proposes the following. First, religiously affiliated individuals will focus on implementing social responsibility initiatives for a longer time orientation compared to non-religiously affiliated individuals. Second, when engaging in social responsibility, religiously affiliated individuals will focus on implementing a smaller scope of social responsibility initiatives than non-religiously affiliated individuals. Finally, religiously affiliated individuals will focus on implementing a larger scale of social responsibility initiatives than non-religiously affiliated individuals.

This paper is one of the very first studies addressing how religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals view core values of spirituality. Additionally, this paper advances the literature by contrasting how religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals engage in socially responsible initiatives in accordance with how they view spirituality.