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This research should help determine whether development should focus on individual firms or will raising the national development level act like a rising tide and raise the performance of all corporations.

The comparative data used in this study come from 150 Australian (ASX200 index listed) firms and 150 Sri Lankan (Colombo Stock Exchange listed) firms. The research questions are answered via a quantitative research design that uses primary and secondary data.

The findings demonstrate that capital budgeting practices are more influenced by contingency features and sophistication in Australia and Sri Lanka. Also, Australian firms tend to use capital budget models with good-to-strong predictive power (except for ROE) and Sri Lankan firms tend to use capital-budget models with fair-to-poor predictive power. Further, the analysis of Australian firms yielded much stronger and more statistically significant results than the analysis of Sri Lankan firms.

In complex real-world situations, reconciling the outputs of a multifaceted approach to capital budgeting methods is more likely to give the depth and width of input needed to achieve an optimal capital investment plan.

The results of this study can provide rich information for stakeholders about new findings in capital budgeting (CB) practices and their contributions to firm performance in a comparative perspective.

The authors examine the association between two important audit partner characteristics and the readability of key audit matters (KAMs) disclosed in the audit reports. Specifically, the authors examine how the readability of KAMs is associated with audit partner tenure and workload.

The authors conduct the study in the audit context of Norway and applied the Flesch reading ease scale to measure the readability levels of reported KAMs in the audit reports of companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Panel data estimation techniques are applied in estimating how partner tenure and workload are associated with the readability of KAMs. In addition, several robustness tests including different measures of KAMs readability and subsample analyses are performed.

The authors find that audit partner tenure and workload have significant associations with the level of KAMs readability. Specifically, the results show that the reported KAMs become more readable as the audit partner tenure increases but are less readable for partners with more workload. These results appear stronger in subsamples of KAMs typically noted to be more complex and associated with higher risks.

As KAMs represent the most significant issues in financial statements audit, these results provide important insights to stakeholders on the potential impact of audit partner tenure and workload on KAMs readability. Less readable KAMs could derail stakeholders' desire to bridge the information gap between auditors and users of the audit report. The uniqueness of this study lies in its focus on audit partner characteristics as opposed to the audit firm.

Excessive audit partner workload impairs KAMs readability.

As KAMs represent the most significant issues in financial statements audit, these results provide important insights to stakeholders on the potential impact of audit partner tenure and workload on KAMs readability. Less readable KAMs could derail stakeholders' desire to bridge the information gap between auditors and users of the audit report. The uniqueness of this study lies in its focus on audit partner characteristics as opposed to the audit firm.

This paper aims to narrate the descriptions of accountability by which a pioneering Malaysian Islamic bank has come to be known and has become a specific model in many countries.

This study is based on a four-year ethnographic work from 2002 to 2006, as accessed and analysed by the researcher. The philosophy underpinning this ethnography is from Geertz’s “Common sense as a cultural system” (1975) and The Interpretation of Cultures (1973).

This study finds the religious metaphors of “Halal and Haram is not Only on Food” and “Bank for All” are the anticipated conception that envisages the institution of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB), especially the perspective of the Shariah Supervisory Council and the struggles of the assistant managers.

The paper aligns with the concerns of McPhail et al. (2004) and calls for engagement in research projects on accounting and accountability related to theology but with an attempt to theorise the “engagement” within the components of human limitation and intelligence which require a narrative from the social and collective dimensions of the present and in the past.

By using various objects as symbol, metaphor and memory, such as “counter”, “branch”, “advertising” and “food”, the paper encourages readers to understand the objects as temporalities brought into being by a common sense consciousness and within a historical Malay context; one in which Malaysia is a Muslim society and a by-product of colonialism. This interpretation allows the issues raised by BIMB to represent an authentic Malaysian voice rather than to be read merely as an adjunct to western accounting history.

The paper explores the translations of concepts that the self probes and attempts to describe accountability, as well as how these translate into common sense.

In recent times, stakeholders have called on corporate organizations especially those charged with governance to embrace full disclosure on non-financial issues, especially sustainability reporting. Based on this premise, this study aims to examine the influence of corporate board and assurance on sustainability reporting practices (SRP) of selected 80 firms from 8 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

To measure the corporate board, the authors use both board variables and audit committee variables. Also, the authors adapted the sustainability score model as used by previous authors in the field of sustainability disclosure to measure SRPs. The analysis was done using both ordered logistic regression and probit regression models.

The results show that the combination of board corporate and assurance has a positive and significant impact on the sustainability reporting practice of selected firms in sub-Saharan Africa.

The study places emphasis on the need for strong collaboration between the corporate board and external assurance in evaluating and enhancing the quality of sustainability disclosure.

The study bridged the gap in the literature in the area of corporate board, assurance and SRP of corporate firms which has received little attention within sub-Saharan Africa.

This study aims to examine whether firms that appear to exhibit high sustainable outputs are more likely to pay higher audit fees than firms without such outputs.

The sustainability outputs are measured using a sustainable product portfolio consisting of four products: clean energy products, eco-design products (EDP), environmental products (EP) and sustainable building projects (SBP). The audit fee variable is measured by the natural logarithm of the total amount of audit fees. The study tests two models of the association between these outputs and audit fees; Model 1 tests this association in the absence of the moderating variable (sustainability committee), and Model 2 tests the association in the presence of the moderating variable.

An analysis of data on 261 European firms from the Refinitiv Eikon database from 2010 to 2019 shows that high sustainability outputs are significantly and positively associated with audit fees. More importantly, this association is moderated by the presence of a board-level sustainability committee, suggesting that this type of committee reflects a factor considered by auditors in their audit risk assessment practices. The findings indicate that in Model 1, one (EP) out of four variables has a significant and positive association with audit fees, while in Model 2 and in the presence of sustainability committee, two variables (EP and EDP) have a significant and negative association with audit fees. However, the robust analysis shows that three variables (EP, EDP and SBP) have significant and negative associations with audit fees.

The study findings have important implications for policymakers, auditors and firms’ managers. For policymakers, the findings provide support for the argument that sustainable attitudes incentivise firms to manage sustainable product profiles more effectively. As such, policymakers should incentivise firms to establish a sustainability committee and regulate its role and responsibilities. Auditors should coordinate with the sustainability committee to facilitate audit efforts and reduce audit fees.

Understanding the relationship between sustainable products and audit fees will allow firms to improve their portfolio of sustainable products. In addition, other social implications of this study relate to improving relationships with society by establishing a sustainability committee that is responsible to communicate with that society.

The results support the argument that firms should manage sustainable product portfolios more effectively. In addition, the results of the study highlight the importance of a new variable as a moderator, the sustainability committee, which has not been examined before.

This study aims to investigate the dynamic capabilities of Indonesia’s local government internal auditors (LGIAs). LGIAs are the functional civil apparatus that is responsible for the main task of auditing local governments at the provincial, regency and municipal levels. Meanwhile, the LGIAs are also a spearhead in identifying and analysing errors, irregularities and fraudulent actions in the finance and development of local government.

The exploratory case study methodology was used, gathering insights from 18 individuals through interviews. In addition, the authors use a critical perspective of the LGIAs’ behaviours in enhancing their capabilities in compliance with the regulations. Moreover, the authors discuss the low motivation of LGIAs in terms of achievement in knowledge acquisition, a mechanistic curriculum creating a climate of low spirit, mental models in rooted ordinariness and behavioural anxiety in hierarchical systems of expertise.

This paper infers that the LGIAs reflect inertia in terms of capabilities because its curriculum, environment and organisation have pervasively changed the culture of the work environment. Consequently, although immorally convenient and practical, the LGIAs work with professional discipline and expedient behaviours. In addition, the LGIAs behave performativity, presenting task performances with undynamic capabilities. Lastly, these behaviours imply the need to enhance the LGIAs’ dynamic capabilities by structuring local governments’ adaptive environment. Hence, this adaptive environment, in turn, could facilitate LGIAs’ further being in high spirits in enhancing knowledge-based expertise.

This study firstly implies that the research findings indicate the need for environmental-, organisational- and curriculum-made transformations to change the capabilities and competencies of LGIAs in the future, facilitating them to increase assimilation-learning abilities. Furthermore, the research shows that mental models dominate LGIAs, resulting in low spirits and reluctance to develop their dynamic capabilities. The paper recommends creating a work culture where anxiety is not dominant and changing the flexibility of the professional structure for LGIAs so that they can be promoted from functional to structural officers.

LGIAs work in a cultural environment that is always structured to fulfil what the regulations require. So, this study’s first novelty is that it underlines the ordinary job practices of LGIAs and the low incentives to enhance their dynamic capabilities. Secondly, it is highlighted that the institution’s auspices do not facilitate LGIAs to advance their dynamic capabilities because of the static competency-based development curriculum. Thirdly, the research shows that the LGIAs are a civil apparatus whose employment system in Indonesia implies a no-dismissal culture and halo effect in measuring performance.

New public management (NPM) has transformed the public sector auditing context, although in quite different ways. Further, investigations into NPM’s impact on public sector auditors and audit institutions have been largely unconnected, with the exception of the critical examination of performance audits. We investigate the question of how public sector auditors’ roles and activities have changed as a result of NPM and later reforms.

We examine and synthesise public sector audit research examining reforms since the year 2000. The research presented considers changes to external and internal public sector audits as well as the development of public sector audit institutions – known as supreme audit institutions (SAIs).

Considerable changes have occurred. Many were influenced by NPM, but others have evolved from the eco-system of accounting, auditing and public sector management. External auditors have responded to an increase in demand for accountability. Additional management and governance techniques have been introduced from the private sector, such as internal auditing and audit committees. NPM has also led to conflicting trends, particularly when governments introduced competition to public sector auditing by contracting out but then chose to centralise to improve accountability. There is also greater international influence now through bodies like the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and similar regional bodies.

NPM reforms and the eco-system have impacted public sector auditing. Sustainability reporting is emerging as an area requiring more auditing attention; auditors also need to continue to develop better ways to communicate with citizens. Further, research into auditing in non-Western nations and emerging technologies is also required, especially where it provides learnings around more valuable audit practices. Empirical evidence is required of the strengths and weaknesses of SAIs’ structural variety.

This study aims to investigate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to vertical farms to evaluate whether disrupting technology supports sustainability and increases strategic business model choices in the agricultural sector. The study responds through empirical analysis to the gap on the subject of AI-driven business models present in the growing sector literature.

The paper analyzes the case of “ZERO”, a company linked to the strategy innovation ecosystem of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy. The empirical data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire, interviews and the analysis of public news on the business model available in the analyzed case study. The research is empirical and uses exploratory, descriptive analysis to interpret the findings. The article focuses on the evaluation of AI impact on the agricultural sector and its potential to create new business models.

The study identified how AI can support the decision-making process leading to an increase in productivity, efficiency, product quality and cost reduction. AI helps increase these parameters through a continuous learning process and local production, and the possible decrease in prices directed toward the goal of zero km food with fresh products. AI is a winning technology to support the key elements of the vertical farm business model. However, it must be coupled with other devices, such as robots, sensors and drones, to collect enough data to enable continuous learning and improvement.

The research supports new research trends in AI applied to agriculture. The major implication is the construction of ecosystems between farms, technology providers, policymakers, universities, research centers and local consumer communities.

The ZERO case study underlines the potential of AI as a destructive technology that, especially in vertical farms, eliminates external conditions by increasing productivity, reducing costs and responding to production needs with adequate consumption of raw materials, boosting both environmental and social sustainability.

The study is original, as the current literature presents few empirical case studies on AI-supporting business models in agriculture. The study also favors valuable strategic implications for the policies to be adopted in favor of new business models in agriculture.

In recent time, stakeholders have called on corporate organizations to develop risk governance (RG) model that could strengthen effective risk disclosure quality (RDQ). Based on this premise, the purpose of this study is to examine the influence of RG on RD quality of 120 corporate organizations.

RG was measured by board risk committee size, board risk committee independence, board risk committee gender diversity, board risk committee expertise, board risk committee effectiveness, chief risk officer (CRO) presence and enterprise risk management (ERM) framework. This study has used both ordered logistic regression and probit regression to analyze the data set.

The number of members on the board risk committee, the proportion of women on that committee, the board expertise, the committee’s effectiveness, the presence of a CRO and the existence of an ERM framework were all found to have an impact on the quality of the risk information disclosed.

The study emphasizes the need for strong collaboration between the corporate board and external assurance in enhancing the quality of RD.

The findings contribute to growing literature in the area of RG and RD in Nigeria and by extension other sub-Saharan African countries.

This study aims to assess whether non-financial corporate social responsibility (CSR) information decreases audit risk and audit scope and enables speedier completion of audit reports. The study also investigates whether institutional investors’ ownership (IIO) has an influence on the association between CSR disclosures and audit report lag (ARL).

This study uses a sample of 154 Saudi firms over 2016–2021 (837 observations) and applies ordinary least square regression to examine the study hypotheses.

This study’s results show that ARL is significantly shorter for firms with higher CSR disclosures. Furthermore, the findings show that IIO has no significant impact on the association between CSR disclosures and ARL.

This study offers new insights into how auditors respond to CSR disclosures and whether institutional investor monitoring influences the audit process in an emerging economy.