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This study aims to examine the relationship between integrated reporting (IR) quality and corporate tax avoidance (CTA). IR is an emerging reporting mechanism, while CTA practices are considered a hindrance to inclusive and sustainable growth. The study also assesses the moderating role of firm complexity on the IR-CTA relationship. Additionally, this study also envisages that CTA practices are not static. Hence, it also analyses the IR-CTA relationship across different intensity levels of CTA practices. The study focusses on listed companies in South Africa, the only country that has mandated IR practice so far.

Ordinary least square and quantile regressions are used to analyse archival and content analysis data for firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from 2011 to 2017.

This study finds that IR quality negatively associates firms CTA practices. It further concludes that although firms’ transparency level increases due to IR quality, firm complexity reduces the significant negative relationship between IR and CTA practices. The findings also indicate that the IR-CTA relationship is not constant but instead differs across the CTA quantiles. At aggressive levels of CTA, no relationship is established between IR quality and firms’ CTA practices.

The findings provide a useful and more detailed description of the relationship between information quality and CTA practice, focussing on IR, an emerging reporting mechanism that is considered innovative and transparent.

Considering the IR-CTA relationship found in this study, IR quality implementation may indirectly contribute to attaining sustainable development goals by reducing CTA practices.

This study examines the relationship between reporting quality and firms’ CTA practices from the perspectives of an emerging reporting mechanism, with a focus on South Africa, the only country that has mandated IR practice. Furthermore, the distributional mean effects of IR quality on firms’ CTA practices explored in this study extend beyond the usual IR-CTA relationship.

Tax risk-management (TRM) is relatively understudied in the area of corporate governance and integrated reporting. The purpose of this study is to identify whether South African organisations identify, rank and manage tax risks in terms of importance and relevance to their own corporation. The study also aims to identify the link, if any, between TRM practices being implemented and the discussion and disclosure of these practices in the integrated report.

Detailed interviews with some of South Africa’s leading tax and corporate governance experts are used to highlight the TRM practices currently in place, as well as the evolution of these practices. These interviews also identify the connection between the practices and the integrated reporting disclosures.

The experts interviewed have identified a sound understanding of TRM practices in place and certainly some evolution of these practices over the past five years. What has been identified though is the need for further enhancement and incorporation of TRM practices into the corporate governance control structures within organisations. Integrated reporting disclosure of TRM still appears to be an area where there is need for improvement, specifically a better understanding by companies of how to use their integrated reports as a strategic asset of the company as opposed to merely a compliance exercise.

The research relies on a relatively small sample of subject experts and does not provide a complete account of TRM developments.

The study adds value by contributing to research conducted on TRM. Although there has been research on ERM from a corporate governance perspective, few studies have examined this from a tax perspective, and there is virtually no formal academic research on the relationship between TRM and corporate governance from a South African perspective.

Against the background of increasing regulation and spotlight on the tax position of MNEs, this study explores the relationship between tax and performance measurement. The paper is informed by a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted in 2006 with 26 senior tax executives from 15 Silicon Valley-based companies. We also draw on documentary evidence including the relevant 10K reports and take an interpretive approach to the analysis. Many of the performance measures referred to in prior literature were employed in the companies. There was no evidence to suggest the profit centre performance measurement model is being adopted by MNEs for their tax departments. Two distinct aspects particularly exercised the interviewees, that is, the effective tax rate (ETR) and post-tax versus pre-tax performance measurement. Many interviewees did not perceive the ETR as being an appropriate measure of performance, yet they recognised its importance internally and externally. Many companies worked on the basis that there is an ‘acceptable range’ of ETRs which won’t give rise to any unwanted questions. Most interviewees shared the view that a post-tax basis of measuring performance of business units might only serve to increase tax risks, preferring instead for the in-house tax executives to remain the exclusive tax knowledge experts. This study contributes to the diversification of tax research within accounting by demonstrating how qualitative work can provide unique insights. It enhances our understanding of how performance measurement of tax might influence the tax-planning behaviour of in-house tax executives and cautions against exclusive reliance on the ETR as a measure of the effect of tax planning.

Country‐specific information on risk management is increasingly important, not only for investors and decision makers in international markets but also, for those in national and regional markets. This study reports the results of a cross‐sectional survey of risk management practice and derivatives use by a sample of Australian firms. Overall, the results suggest that firm‐specific factors appear to have some influence on risk management practice with the industry of the respondent being the most important, while the degree of international exposure has the least. Larger and more internationally exposed firms are likely to have more frequent reporting of derivatives use, and are more likely to use swaps and options to manage risks than other types of firms. Issues and implications for international firms are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the interest rate risk management (IRRM) practices of UK companies. In particular, the study examines five theories that have been advanced in the literature to explain why companies hedge: tax and regulatory arbitrage; under‐investment, volatility of earnings and future planning; financial distress; managerial self‐interest; and economies of scale.

The paper uses a questionnaire survey to examine the importance of hedging theories and to look at the detailed risk management practices of companies.

The research findings confirm that all five theories of financial risk management have some support in practice. However, while the responses to some questions supported the theories, other information elicited from the questionnaires did not. This finding demonstrates that studies which employ large disaggregated datasets that result in generalised conclusions often miss the dynamic nature of corporate affairs and that, as such, more qualitative research is needed in this area.

The use of a questionnaire survey facilitates an investigation of the IRRM practices of companies on an individual basis rather than the aggregated analysis afforded by most quantitative studies in finance. In addition, the qualitative approach adopted here permits an examination of many factors that relate to risk management practices, rather than just a limited number of financial ratios or factors that are typically used in studies of large datasets.

This study investigates firm attributes (namely level of capitalisation, scope of operation, organisational structure, organisational lifecycle, systemic importance and size) affecting the robustness of enterprise risk management (ERM) practice, the extent to which ERM affects the performance of banks and the impact of ERM on the long-term sustainability of banks in Nigeria. This was against the backdrop that the 2012 banking reform was a major regulatory intervention that mainstreamed ERM in the Nigerian banking sector.

The study employed a mixed methodology of content, trend and quantitative analyses. Ex post facto research design was deployed to analyse performance differential of banks, with respect to the implementation of ERM, over a 10-year period (2008–2017). A disclosure checklist developed from the COSO ERM integrated framework was used to assess the robustness of ERM by content-analysing divulgence on risk management in published annual reports. The banking reform periods were dichotomised into pre- (2008–2012) and post- (2013–2017) reform periods. Jonckheere–Terpstra test, independent sample t-test and Mann–Whitney test were applied to analyse a total of 1,036 firm-year observations over the period 2008–2017.

Result shows that bank attributes significantly affecting the robustness of risk management practice are level of capitalisation, scope of operation, systemic importance and size. Performance of banks improved slightly during the post-2012 banking reform period. This suggests that as banks consolidate on the gains of ERM, benefits of the regulatory policy on risk management may be realised in the long run. Result also shows that ERM enhances long-term performance, connoting that effective risk management could serve as a competitive strategy for surviving turbulence that typically characterises the banking sector.

The emergence of level of capitalisation, scope of operation, systemic importance and size as determinants of ERM provides empirical evidence to support the practice of reviewing the capital requirements for banking business from time to time by regulatory authorities (i.e. recapitalisation policy) as a strategy for managing systemic risk. Top management of banks may consider instituting mechanisms that will ensure risk management is given prominence. A proactive approach must be taken to convert risks to opportunities by banks and other financial institutions, going forward, to cope with the vicissitudes of financial intermediation.

The originality of the study stems from the consideration that it provides some new insights into the impact of ERM on banks long-term sustainability in a developing country. The study also contributes to knowledge by exposing the factors determining the robustness of risk management practice. The study developed a checklist for assessing ERM practice from annual reports and other risk management disclosure documents. The paper also adds to the scarce literature on risk governance and risk management.

This study aims to investigate the association between corporate tax avoidance and environmental costs and disclosure in Indonesia and Australia for the research period 2015–2019. This study also analyzes corporate strategies for overcoming public concerns about tax avoidance activities, namely, the trade-off legitimacy and risk reduction strategies, through two mechanisms: the mediation and moderation roles of environmental disclosure on the relationship between environmental costs and tax avoidance activities.

The data consists of 675 and 235 observations for Australia and Indonesia, respectively, which were analyzed quantitatively using panel regression.

The results showed that the trade-off legitimacy or risk reduction strategies are not found to be implemented by companies in Indonesia, while in Australia, corporations use the trade-off legitimacy strategy to reduce risk and overcome the negative impact of tax avoidance activities. The results also provide empirical evidence on the impact of environmental costs on environmental disclosure in both countries.

This study contributes to the literature by providing the latest evidence on the role of environmental costs on environmental disclosure, which has rarely been investigated in previous studies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the negative impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR), business ethics and responsible corporate governance on tax avoidance within a sample of 119 French industrial companies from 2010 to 2019.

To test the current hypotheses of this study, the authors applied linear regressions with panel data using the Thomson Reuters ASSET4 database from a sample of 119 French companies over the period of 2010–2019.

The results show that companies with no conduction of CSR activities are more aggressive in the avoidance of taxes than others, confirming the idea that CSR could be seen as a facet of corporate culture that affects business corporate tax avoidance.

The results have interesting implications for investors and other partners who are interested in the business. Thus, for the government, to develop financial transparency, the improvement of the means of legal action such as the tax administration and the support of the action of civil society are pivotal to strengthen the legitimacy of tax.

This work is one of the studies that examine the effect of CSR, ethics and responsible governance on tax avoidance.

Large infrastructure projects involve many different stakeholders. Risk allocation is negotiated between the public sector and the special purpose vehicle (SPV)/consortium. Moreover, risk allocation is negotiated between the shareholders of the SPV and between the SPV and its contractors, financiers/lenders and insuring companies. Since the individual understanding of risks associated with the project differs amongst the contract partners, negotiation is often very time consuming and may not lead to the best possible outcome. The variability of risk management approaches and a lack of coherent practices often prove to be problematic. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

The study has been conducted using a questionnaire and expert interviews to identify the current state of public‐private partnership (PPP) risk management. As a result, a process model for risk management for each stakeholder has been developed.

By developing an integrated risk management system (IRMS), it is possible to meet particular project requirements, such as reducing complexity, establishing risk awareness, covering the different perspectives of the parties involved, building on a common understanding regarding the nature of risks and opportunities providing step‐by‐step contingency instructions, and enhancing the available information.

The provision of an IRMS in PPP will induce transparency by utilizing better sources of data and information distribution. Moreover, the application of sophisticated risk management techniques will enhance the capabilities and accuracy of the decision‐making processes. As a result, credibility and a common understanding of key data, ratios and reports for all contract partners is achieved.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the effect of tax avoidance on corporate social responsibility performance. It also investigates whether audit quality affects tax avoidance practices by socially responsible performance.

Based on a sample of French non-financial companies over the period 2005 to 2016, this paper uses panel data regressions. The authors apply generalized least square panel regression to overcome autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity problems. For further robustness, this paper runs instrumental variable regressions using the three-stage instrument variable method (three-stage least square).

The results show that firms with high CSR scores are more likely to engage in aggressive tax avoidance. The findings also show that firms audited by high-quality auditors are more likely to get involved in CSR for hedging against the potential consequences of aggressive tax avoidance practices.

The findings are consistent with risk management theory, which suggests that firm’s hedge against any reputational risks that might arise from avoiding taxes by engaging more in CSR.

Results have implications for policymakers in that CSR firms audited by high-quality auditors may engage in CSR to overcome any negative reactions that could be caused as a result of tax avoidance. Thus, they need to be cautious about managers’ opportunistic behavior and enhance monitoring to enforce social compliance and to be tax compliant.

This paper extends the existing literature by examining the effect of audit quality on the relationship between CSR performance and corporate tax avoidance. Audit quality is deemed to be an important governance feature that is likely to constraint managerial opportunistic behaviors. Audit quality, along with CSR performance, are associated with a higher level of tax avoidance.