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1 – 6 of 6Gianluca Ginesti, Rosalinda Santonastaso and Riccardo Macchioni
This paper aims to investigate the impact of family involvement in ownership and governance on the quality of internal auditing.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impact of family involvement in ownership and governance on the quality of internal auditing.
Design/methodology/approach
Leveraging a hand-collected data set of listed family firms from 2014 to 2020, this study uses regression analyses to investigate the impact of family ownership, family involvement on the board, family CEO and the generational stage of the family business on the quality of internal auditing.
Findings
The results provide evidence that family ownership is positively associated with the quality of internal auditing, while later generational stages of family businesses have the opposite effect. Additional analyses reveal that the presence of a sustainability board sub-committee moderates the relationship between generational stages of family businesses and the quality of internal auditing function.
Research limitations/implications
This paper does not consider country-institutional factors and other potentially family-related antecedents or governance factors that may affect the quality of internal auditing.
Practical implications
The results are informative for investors and non-family stakeholders interested in understanding under which conditions family-related factors influence the quality of internal auditing functions.
Originality/value
This study offers fresh evidence regarding the relationship between family-related factors and the quality of internal auditing and board sub-committees that moderate such a relationship in family businesses.
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Bikki Jaggi, Alessandra Allini, Gianluca Ginesti and Riccardo Macchioni
This study aims to examine the impact of corporate board characteristics and country-level legal system on corruption disclosures mandated by the recent European Union (EU…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of corporate board characteristics and country-level legal system on corruption disclosures mandated by the recent European Union (EU) Directive No. 95/2014.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a sample of 234 European listed companies and covering the 2017–2018 period, this study uses regression analyses to empirically test the association of independent directors, board gender diversity and country’s legal system with disclosure of corruption information.
Findings
The presence of independent directors and female directors is positively associated with corporate corruption disclosures. The association between independent directors and corruption disclosures is especially strong when firms are operating in the common law environments.
Research limitations/implications
This study is exclusively focused on larger European listed firms and therefore the findings may not be valid for small and medium firms.
Practical implications
This study provides important information to policymakers to have a better understanding of the factors that influence firms’ disclosure policy on corruption-related activities. It also offers useful information to investors because it shows firms’ propensity to disclose corruption information that would enable them to evaluate their risk and return better.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that evaluates firms’ response to the EU Directive No. 95/2014 in disclosing corruption information after its implementation in 2017. It documents the effective role played by female directors in influencing firms’ information disclosure policies. It also confirms that common law environment is more conducive to disclosures.
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Gianluca Ginesti, Carlo Drago, Riccardo Macchioni and Giuseppe Sannino
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the female board participation and the readability of annual report.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the female board participation and the readability of annual report.
Design/methodology/approach
Using hand-collected data from a “network-oriented market”, as exists in Italy, which includes 435 annual reports, this study uses a regression analysis to test whether female board participation affects the annual report readability.
Findings
Female board participation is found to have a positive impact on disclosure readability in firms with small boardroom connections but the opposite effect in firms with large boardroom connections.
Research limitations/implications
This paper responds to recent calls in the corporate governance literature by investigating whether the female board participation affects the transparency of the disclosure practices.
Practical implications
This study has policy implications, as it helps to improve evaluations of how, and under which circumstances, female board participation may lead to higher disclosure quality and thus benefit investors.
Originality/value
This paper shows that female board participation has different effects on the disclosure readability at different levels of board positions in inter-firm networks.
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Riccardo Macchioni, Clelia Fiondella and Martina Prisco
This study aims to examine whether tax avoidance is associated with overinvestment and the moderating role of financial reporting quality on such association in Italian private…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine whether tax avoidance is associated with overinvestment and the moderating role of financial reporting quality on such association in Italian private firms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a multivariate regression analysis based on a sample consisting of 65,535 firm-year observations between 2015 and 2022.
Findings
Results show that tax avoidance is positively associated with overinvestment and that such relation is weaker for firms with a higher financial reporting quality than for firms with a lower financial reporting quality. Furthermore, findings hold to a wide range of robustness checks, including alternative measures of main variables, endogeneity and falsification tests.
Research limitations/implications
Since this study focuses on the Italian private firms, the results cannot be extensively generalized.
Practical implications
As this study highlights the importance of tax avoidance on overinvestment, it can be particularly beneficial for managers, policymakers and other parties interested in assessing factors that lead to a capital allocation in less efficient investments.
Originality/value
This study provides novel evidence about the role of tax avoidance on overinvestment in private firms by mitigating the little attention of prior research in this area. It examines the Italian setting that is particularly of interest given the relevance of private firms in such context and the incentives of managers to reduce the tax burden.
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Riccardo Macchioni, Martina Prisco and Claudia Zagaria
This paper investigates whether board gender diversity is associated with the propensity to prioritize environmental issues in the material topic list on Global Reporting…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates whether board gender diversity is associated with the propensity to prioritize environmental issues in the material topic list on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)-based reports.
Design/methodology/approach
Regressions analyses are performed using a sample of 755 firm-year observations from Italy over the 2018–2022 period. The data were obtained from hand-collection on GRI-based reports and Refinitiv Eikon database. Board gender diversity is measured through three proxies: the natural logarithm of the number of women directors, the ratio of female representation on board and the Blau index reflecting the proportion of women/men on board. Additional tests are also developed.
Findings
Results show that board gender diversity positively influences the propensity to rank environmental issues at the top of the material topic list on GRI-based reports.
Research limitations/implications
Since the study focuses on the Italian context, results cannot be subjective to an extensive generalization to other countries.
Practical implications
This study highlights the importance of strengthening the female participation on board to prioritize the firm’s impact on environment within the materiality assessment of sustainability reporting.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the association between board gender diversity and the highest ranked environmental material topics, thus contributing to better understand the role of women directors on materiality assessment within sustainability reporting.
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Abstract
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