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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting has been theorized as a key communication device and an integral part of a broader stakeholder integration management strategy. This paper aims to examine the relationship between CSR disclosures and organized labor, an important internal stakeholder, whose institutional role in dynamically advancing employee interests creates opportunities and challenges for strategic management and firm sustainability.

By using a sample of 2,526 US firm-year observations for the period 2002–2015, the authors demonstrate that managers in unionized contexts are more likely to issue CSR reports than managers in firms, where labor is not organized.

The authors demonstrate that managers in unionized contexts are more likely to issue CSR reports than managers in firms where labor is not organized. Considering stakeholder theory, they argue that, in unionized contexts, managers more intensively resort to CSR disclosures to form an alignment of interests, develop collaborative bonds with unions and smoothen relationships with external financial stakeholders. This effect is more prominent in areas where corporate spatial clustering and the prevailing political ideology facilitate the role of unions.

First, the data refer to USA, which may limit the generalization of the results. Hence, researchers could use cross-country datasets to overcome this limitation. Second, it would be important to know what benefits are enjoyed by the unionized companies that issue CSR reports. Third, they acknowledge that there is useful qualitative information they do not analyze. This analysis could potentially relate specific CSR information to unions’ needs and demands. Further, there are alternative channels through which companies disclose relevant information such as 10-K filings, annual reports, firm websites, media, public announcements, etc. These are not captured by the data.

Managers could benefit from the empirical analysis, which suggests that through the initiation of CSR reports a dialogue with unions is greatly facilitated. Managers should consider that CSR reports reduce information asymmetries and may attract the interest of investors. Unionists should be aware that CSR reports constitute an opportunity to identify mutual interests and align goals. Business analysts, investors and shareholders should be aware that standalone CSR reports are used by managers to reduce information asymmetries and disparities with unions and to communicate an investment-friendly context. So, market participants should factor such policies by unionized firms into their investment analyses.

The authors offer implications for managers, labor unionists and market participants.

This paper examines the relationship between CSR disclosures and organized labor, an important internal stakeholder, whose institutional role in dynamically advancing employee interests creates opportunities and challenges for strategic management and firm sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether bank managers of countries within the European Union (EU) engage in signalling, especially after implementation of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) commencing 2005.

“Signaling” is the use of loan loss provisions (LLPs) to convey signals of fiscal prudence and future profitability to investors. The authors use data from 18 countries across the EU covering the pre and post IFRS regimes and apply univariate and multivariate tests in order to test signaling behavior under both accounting regimes.

The findings indicate insufficient evidence that financially healthy banks engage in signaling behavior. However, banks facing financial distress appear to engage in aggressive signaling relative to healthy banks. Finally, the propensity to engage in signaling behavior is more pronounced for financially distressed banks in the post IFRS regime. While IFRS, under IAS 39 sort to mitigate the discretionary component of LLPs, our finding may be attributable to lax enforcement of IFRS.

The findings have implications for both investors and regulators. Investors should be aware that troubled banks engage in signaling to convey positive information about their future prospects. Regulators should be aware that financially stressed banks have a greater propensity to engage in signaling and need to ensure that the provisions of IFRS (which attempts to limit discretion in estimating LLPs) are enforced more stringently.

The paper contributes to the growing literature on bank signaling in a number of ways. First, the authors use a sample from 18 countries within the EU which has not been done before. Second, unlike prior studies which only examined healthy banks, the authors also include financially distressed banks in the sample. Third, the authors examine signaling behavior in the pre and post IFRS regimes to understand the influence of IFRS on the propensity to engage in signaling by bank managers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine auditor‐ and auditee‐related factors that determine audit time, as a proxy of audit quality. The issue of audit quality is of particular significance, while companies in Europe move towards adoption of international accounting standards.

The paper compares the actual audit hours for corporate audits of listed companies with a minimum prescribed by the Supervisory Council of the Hellenic Institute of Certified Auditors (known in Greek with the acronym SOEL). The data used are from the period immediately preceding the implementation of SOEL's minimum audit time criteria.

An “audit effort” ratio calculated as actual hours to minimum hours prescribed is found to bear a positive correlation with company size and gearing, and is also significantly higher for companies audited by large multinational audit firms and for companies that seek equity finance. A proportion of audits is found to have been conducted at less than the prescribed minimum.

A number of theoretical and measurement limitations are acknowledged that could further increase the explanatory power of the model. A discussion is also included of the potential effectiveness of regulation as a mechanism for strengthening the agency relationship between management and shareholders.

The study should be of assistance to auditors, auditees and regulatory authorities.

This paper fills a widely acknowledged gap in the literature regarding the determinants of audit time and the concept of audit quality, particularly in a newly developed capital markets.

The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the role of corporate governance in earnings management behaviour by US listed banks during the era of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (2003‐2008).

The paper examines the issue of accounting quality and corporate governance within banking corporations through the use of two different measures of earnings management, namely small positive net income and the difference between discretionary realized security gains and losses and discretionary loan loss provisions (LLPs), by applying a corporate governance index estimated from 63 governance provisions.

The research found convincing evidence that banks with efficient corporate governance mechanisms report small positive income to a lesser extent than banks with weak governance efficiency. Also well‐governed banks engage less in aggressive earnings management behaviour through the use of discretionary loan loss provisions and realized security gains and losses.

The findings could prove to be valuable to investors since they must take into consideration the efficiency of each bank's corporate governance and demand supplementary information in order to reach a better investment decision when earnings are not highly informative.

The findings could prove to be useful for regulators since they are responsible for the acceptable level of corporate governance standards. Thus, they must consider strengthening governance mechanisms either though new legislation or stronger enforcement where earnings management is of such magnitude to that serious impedes information transparency and quality.

The present study aims to bridge a gap in the literature by investigating corporate governance and earnings management behaviour during a period of transition to an intensively legalized governance environment (SOX Act). The results contribute further evidence to the ongoing debate about the effectiveness of established corporate governance mechanisms.

The Premier League (PL) and the Bundesliga (BL) were chosen for this study due to their fundamentally different approaches to ownership regulation and the distribution of media revenues. Regulation in the PL is very liberal if compared to the BL's 50+1-rule. In the BL, the distribution of media revenues is mainly based on past performance, whereas equal distribution is dominant in the PL. The specific aim of this paper was a longitudinal analysis with a focus on the final outcome of the seasons.

This study looks at competitive intensity (CI) in the men's BL and the English PL because it is a crucial indicator for the long-term success of a sports league and the participants. To calculate the CI of both leagues and of all relevant sub-competitions (championship, Champions League (CL), Europa League (EL), Conference League (CoL) and fight against relegation), a CI index (CII) model was generalised and applied for an examination period spanning from 1998/99 to 2020/21.

Until 2008/09, seasonal CI in the BL was somewhat higher than in the PL. But afterwards, the BL's championship race's CI dropped considerably, while the PL's CI for qualification for the CL rose profoundly. Results also showed that the introduction of the CoL raised the leagues' CI indices.

Besides a methodological contribution with the generalisation of the applied CI index model, the findings are discussed in the context of the above-mentioned regulatory and distribution mechanisms also taking into account the very current discussion regarding general regulatory changes within European football.

This paper aims to provide an assessment of the decision-usefulness and quality of governmental financial reports in Greece under the recently adopted modified-cash basis. The evaluation is performed within the wider debate regarding the actual benefits of a transition toward an accounting paradigm that lies closer to accrual accounting as the Greek modified-cash basis borrows several accrual characteristics.

The transition to modified accruals is analyzed through the prism of the new institutional theory. The approach adopted builds on the characteristics of the accounting information pertaining to the conceptual frameworks of public and private sector accounting standard setting bodies. The assessment is conducted on the basis of the perceptions of public sector financial information users on a Web-based questionnaire.

The findings provide empirical evidence, albeit of moderate magnitude, in favor of the benefits associated with a move to full accruals.

The study moves the debate on the merits of accounting systems’ changes toward the worldwide witnessed trajectory a step forward by providing practical evidence on the matter.