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The purpose of this paper is to synthesize insights from the emerging work in accounting on greenwashing and sustainability assurance and propose an agenda for future research in this area.

This article offers an original analysis of papers published on greenwashing and sustainability assurance research in the field of accounting. It adopts a systematic literature review and a narrative approach to analyse the dominant themes and key findings in this new and rapidly evolving field. From this overview, specific avenues for future research are identified.

In the past few years there has been a substantial spike in concern relating to greenwashing among academics, practitioners, regulators and society. This growing concern has only partly been reflected in the research literature. To date, research has primarily focused on: (1) the characteristics of firms adopting sustainability assurance, (2) the challenges facing sustainability auditors, (3) the development of appropriate assurance standards and regulations, and (4) capital market responses to greenwashing and sustainability auditing/assurance. Three key future research issues with respect to greenwashing are identified: (1) the future of standard-setter attempts to regulate greenwashing, (2) professional jockeying in sustainability reporting assurance, and (3) capital market opportunities and challenges relating to greenwashing and assurance.

Despite the profound economic and reputational impact of greenwashing and the rapid development of sustainability assurance services, research in accounting remains fragmented and emergent. This review identifies avenues offering considerable scope for inter-disciplinarity and bridging the divide between academia and practice.

Despite the potential of virtual fitting rooms (VFRs) to enhance the consumer experience, their adoption is in the preliminary stages. Little is known about inherent reasons why consumers would adopt VFRs. As consumers' attributional processes can be influenced by their enduring chronic traits, this study aims to investigate the influence of chronic regulatory focus on consumers' VFR adoptions via consumers' perceptions of value provided by VFRs. Additionally, the mediating effects of perceived functional and experiential values were examined. Further, the moderating effect of prior VFR experience was tested to allow for variations in consumer experiences.

Data were collected via an online survey of 480 consumers who have at least heard of VFRs via convenience sampling. Established measures were utilized to develop the survey questionnaire. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling to test the main model with mediation effects as well as multi-group comparisons to test the moderating effect.

Empirical results revealed that respective chronic regulatory foci, as preconceived factors that drive consumers' differences in processing, exerted significant influences on consumers' perceptions of VFRs, which, in turn, positively influenced their adoption intention. Also, perceived values mediated the relationship between regulatory foci and consumers' adoption intention. Further, prior VFR experience moderated the relationship between regulatory focus and perceived value.

The paper empirically tested the importance of chronic regulatory foci in understanding consumers' cognitive and affective attributional processes, explaining inherent psychological reasons why consumers would (not) adopt VFRs.

This study aims to synthesize the existing literature with insights gained from interviews conducted with regulatory experts. The objective is to analyse the challenges associated with incorporating cryptocurrencies into regulatory frameworks and to explore constraints in the regulatory institutionalization of cryptocurrencies.

The study methodology consists of two steps. The first step is to identify regulatory constraints in the literature review and in the next step, interviews are conducted with officials of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The study used a qualitative case study methodology, in which a single case (regulatory constraint) was selected as a unit of analysis.

The findings show that lack of traceability, legal status, lack of governmental control due to decentralization, difficulty enforcing laws, volatility, lack of skills with regulators and difficulty integrating cryptocurrencies into the current financial system are the main obstacles to the introduction of a regulatory framework. Thus, on a broader conceptual level, the findings can be grouped into opportunism, lack of strategic capability and fragmented global laws.

This study could inform global cryptocurrency regulation discussions, sharing a developing country’s views on balancing the government, central banks, the financial sector and public interests. This could guide countries to consider cryptocurrency adoption in similar situations. This could affect the cryptocurrency market, impacting demand, supply and investor trust in Pakistan.

The study has implications for policy making officials. The research aims to offer valuable insights to the SBP and other regulatory authorities, helping them identify potential risks and create an effective regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.

The study has implications for society in knowing about the volatile nature of cryptos and anonymity of their issuers, which poses regulatory constraints. This then implies its harmfullness to its traders and the huge losses that may arise from their trading due to its volatile nature.

This study contributes to the literature on the constraints, responsibilities and consultation framework of cryptocurrency regulations.

Informal housing stands out as a major challenge surrounding the massive reconstruction of Syrian cities, devastated by a bloody war and a terrible earthquake. The purpose of this article is to assess the adequacy of the Syrian Law to adequate provide a solution to this problem.

With the purpose of informing the question, this paper offers a legal-institutional analysis of the informal housing phenomenon and the corresponding regulatory responses in Syria. A literature review is conducted, and functional analysis of the legal texts and their effective implementation is provided.

First, informal housing in Syria has been fostered by the existence of an erratic regulation, particularly burdened by the incoherence of passing repressive provisions against informal housing while master plans were conspicuously absent or incomplete. Second, the regulatory policy seems to be leaning toward the urban renewal option, indicating a supply-oriented housing approach that may face serious challenges due to the scarcity of capital. In this context, regulation should not underestimate any policy tools at hand (renewal and upgrading; with the contribution of public, private and cooperative sectors).

Although there have been several studies on informal housing in Syria, none has taken a legal institutionalist approach. Furthermore, this study offers an up-to-date account of the problem, taking into account the problematic after the 2023 earthquake and the content of Law 2/2023.

This study aims to focus on the legal status of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulatory spread in spite of its limited membership in international law. This is conducted by examining the regime of the FATF with the normative regime of public international law and trying to identify common grounds and conflicts between the two.

This study adopted an exploratory approach involving a thorough examination and analysis of accredited text, command papers and reports, archival materials, national obligations, websites as well as other documentary evidence.

This research gives an empirical determinant of compliance behaviour in response to FATF regulatory standards and the interplay of international law.

The findings here are not exhaustive and could be approached from other perspectives. Researchers are therefore encouraged to engage by testing the findings further, as this is only a blueprint for further research.

This study provides implications for the need to open up the current membership of the FATF, as it appears discriminatory in nature and could inhibit effective compliance with its regulatory standards.

FATF regulatory standards do not just revolve around its members and rule-takers but also affect unintended and vulnerable people who were never in contemplation when these regulations were debated without a global consensus.

The main aim of this study is to advocate for a rethink of FATF’s regulatory strategy by ensuring that its operations are more inclusive, where jurisdictions can participate as members, creating a sense of belonging and commitment in the fight against money laundering.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and validate a robust industrial control system. The aim is to design a Multivariable Proportional Integral controller that accommodates multiple responses while considering the process's control and noise parameters. In addition, this paper intended to develop a multidisciplinary approach by combining computational science, control engineering and statistical methodologies to ensure a resilient process with the best use of available resources.

Taguchi's robust design methodology and multi-response optimisation approaches are adopted to meet the research aims. Two-Input-Two-Output transfer function model of the distillation column system is investigated. In designing the control system, the Steady State Gain Matrix and process factors such as time constant (t) and time delay (?) are also used. The unique methodology is implemented and validated using the pilot plant's distillation column. To determine the robustness of the proposed control system, a simulation study, statistical analysis and real-time experimentation are conducted. In addition, the outcomes are compared to different control algorithms.

Research indicates that integral control parameters (K_i) affect outputs substantially more than proportional control parameters (K_p). The results of this paper show that control and noise parameters must be considered to make the control system robust. In addition, Taguchi's approach, in conjunction with multi-response optimisation, ensures robust controller design with optimal use of resources. Eventually, this research shows that the best outcomes for all the performance indices are achieved when Kp11 = 1.6859, Kp12 = −2.061, Kp21 = 3.1846, Kp22 = −1.2176, Ki11 = 1.0628, Ki12 = −1.2989, Ki21 = 2.454 and Ki22 = −0.7676.

This paper provides a step-by-step strategy for designing and validating a multi-response control system that accommodates controllable and uncontrollable parameters (noise parameters). The methodology can be used in any industrial Multi-Input-Multi-Output system to ensure process robustness. In addition, this paper proposes a multidisciplinary approach to industrial controller design that academics and industry can refine and improve.

This study explores whether hard regulatory control decreases the level of earnings management in local governments. The implementation of a new regulatory approach by Norwegian authorities provides the opportunity for an empirical study.

The authors adopt a two-stage strategy to investigate the existence of earnings management, using the Jones (1991) and modified Jones (Dechow et al., 1995) models to construct a random-effects model.

The authors test the hypothesis that, given decentralisation of control, there will be an increase in opportunistic financial reporting. This study's findings suggest that this is not the case, thereby indicating that a soft control regime does not diminish discipline in municipalities.

This study has practical implications for policymaking in the public sector. Its findings suggest that municipalities do not engage in more earnings management under a soft regulatory regime. Hence, other authorities should consider adopting a soft regulatory approach to controlling local governments and their financial reporting systems.

This study contributes to a growing body of literature regarding earnings management by local governments. The authors investigate a hypothesis previously untested in the literature by comparing the degree of earnings management under different regulatory control regimes.

Drawing on the international business and game theory literature, this study assesses foreign firm treatment in the early stages of regulatory enforcement.

Treating regulation intensity as an exposure variable, negative binomial regression models were applied to firm-level data from 32 emerging markets (n = 15,331) to identify the determinants of inspection interactions. Robustness checks also were performed via variable substitutions for several predictors and an alternative form of statistical testing (i.e. Tobit regression, since it arguably better addresses dependent variables with corner solution responses).

Controlling for multiple organizational, regulatory and national characteristics, the findings are consistent with a foreign privilege, manifesting in reduced vulnerability to multiple encounters with labor inspection officials. Moreover, inward FDI stock was negatively related to the general probability of repeat interactions regardless of locus of ownership, an effect that was not moderated by stage of development or the regulatory influence of host interest groups. This collectively suggests that foreign firms not only are favored in compliance monitoring but also work post-entry to influence agencies to generally benefit business.

More comprehensive assessments were precluded given the lack of information on reasons for contact, citations and fines, and inspectorate reactions to company responses. Second, enforcement-risk management was measured indirectly since investors' internal dealings and actions toward officials are unavailable in secondary sources.

These findings have important implications for social responsibility, suggesting CSR stakeholders need to track enforcement more closely and exert pressure where needed so rights are not sacrificed for economic development.

This study provides the most rigorous assessment to date of the role that firm, government and economic factors play in national inspection targeting. It also examined whether foreign owners pool and leverage their political influence to impact general inspection activity, a previously untested prospect.

This study reviews and discusses the accounting literature that analyzes the role of auditors and enforcers in the context of fraud.

This literature review includes both qualitative and quantitative studies, based on the idea that the findings from different research paradigms can shed light on the complex interactions between different financial reporting controls. The authors use a mixed-methods research synthesis and select 64 accounting journal articles to analyze the main proxies for fraud, the stages of the fraud process under investigation and the roles played by auditors and enforcers.

The study highlights heterogeneity with respect to the terms and concepts used to capture the fraud phenomenon, a fragmentation in terms of the measures used in quantitative studies and a low level of detail in the fraud analysis. The review also shows a limited number of case studies and a lack of focus on the interaction and interplay between enforcers and auditors.

This study outlines directions for future accounting research on fraud.

The analysis underscores the need for the academic community, policymakers and practitioners to work together to prevent the destructive economic and social consequences of fraud in an increasingly complex and interconnected environment.

This study differs from previous literature reviews that focus on a single monitoring mechanism or deal with fraud in a broadly manner by discussing how the accounting literature addresses the roles and the complex interplay between enforcers and auditors in the context of accounting fraud.

The purpose of this paper is to scrutinise the effectiveness of four derivative exchanges’ enforcement efforts since 2007. These exchanges include the Commodity Exchange Inc. and ICE Futures US from the United States and ICE Futures Europe and the London Metal Exchange from the UK.

The paper examines 799 enforcement notices published by four exchanges through a behavioural science lens: HUMANS conceived by Hunt (2023) in Humanizing Rules: Bringing Behavioural Science to Ethics and Compliance.

The paper finds the effectiveness of the exchanges’ enforcement efforts to be a mixed picture as financial markets transition from the digital to artificial intelligence era. Humans remain a key cog in the wheel of market participants’ trading operations, albeit their roles have changed. Despite this, some elements of exchanges’ enforcement regimes have not kept pace with the move from floor to remote trading. However, in other respects, their efforts are or should be, effective, at least in behavioural terms.

The paper’s findings are arguably limited to exchanges based in Anglophone jurisdictions. The information published by the exchanges is variable, making “like-for-like” comparisons difficult in some areas.

The paper makes several recommendations that, if adopted, could help exchanges to increase the potency of their enforcement programmes.

A key aim of the paper is to shift the lens through which the debate concerning the efficacy of exchange-level oversight is conducted. Hitherto, a legal lens has been used, whereas this paper uses a behavioural lens.