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This paper aims to investigate whether there is any change in corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in Pakistani companies after the introduction of CSR voluntary guidelines in 2013 by Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and determine the effect of corporate governance (CG) elements on CSR disclosure.

Content analysis was applied to measure CSR disclosure from annual and sustainability reports of 50 companies from eight different sectors from 2010 to 2014. Paired-samples t-test was applied to examine the difference in CSR disclosure. Regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between CG elements and CSR disclosure.

Paired-samples t-test shows an increase in the extent of CSR disclosure after the introduction of CSR voluntary guidelines in 2013. The one-way ANOVA test reveals that the extent of CSR disclosure is different across various sectors. Multiple regression results prove that independent directors, women directors and board size positively affect the extent of CSR disclosure.

SECP should enforce medium-sized firms to start producing CSR reports. Voluntary guidelines of 2013 moderately improved CSR reporting. Therefore, enforcement of the SECP rule of independent directors may enhance the extent of CSR disclosure.

This study is the first to examine the effect of CSR voluntary guidelines issued by SECP in 2013 and CG elements on CSR disclosure in Pakistan.

In Canada, companies are focusing on corporate governance as an ethical response to accounting scandals and the resulting crisis of confidence. Although, many aspects of corporate governance remain free from strict regulation, we examine the voluntary changes in the disclosures of the largest Canadian companies. We attempt to understand, through disclosure theory, discourse analysis, and structuration theory, the quality of these corporate governance disclosures. We recognize that much of the disclosure is opportunistic as companies state that they have not only complied with the non-compulsory Canadian guidelines, but have also met and exceeded the requirements of U.S. regulators. This is an important finding that supports the notion that Canadian companies do not need rules and regulations. Instead, a culture of governance is developing at the boards of large companies that encourages voluntary change. Whether this is enough to prevent future accounting scandals is a question for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the weaker focus on risk management and internal control within the Belgian corporate governance guidelines is associated with less developed risk management and internal control systems within Belgian companies, when compared to Australian companies.

Theoretical arguments were drawn from institutional theory. Data for the study were collected through a questionnaire that was sent out to chief audit executives in Australia and Belgium.

The paper finds that the weaker focus of the Belgian corporate governance guidelines on risk management and internal control is associated with less developed risk management and internal control systems in Belgian companies than in Australian companies.

The paper contributes to the literature on corporate governance, as it suggests that the specific content of corporate governance guidelines is an important variable to take into account. This paper also confirms that institutional theory is a relevant framework to study on the one hand, corporate governance practices in a “comply or explain” context, and on the other hand, corporate governance practices within unlisted companies.

This study aims to examine the impact of soft law and institutional signalling on voluntary reporting of environmentally sensitive companies in Thailand.

Environmental disclosures in annual reports and sustainability reports of 108 listed companies for the years 2010–2014 were analysed using a checklist of un-weighted scores combined with panel data modelling.

The results show increasing trends of voluntary reporting dominated by disclosures on emissions data. Thai sustainability reporting guidelines released in 2012 were found to have a significant effect on the amount of disclosures of companies in the agriculture and food sector only. Results show that the age of the company and media attention have a significant positive relationship with environmental disclosures. Profitability is found to have a negative relationship with the level of environmental disclosures.

This study adds to existing environmental reporting literature from the perspective of soft law and institutional signalling and their impact on environmental reporting in the context of an economically developing, environmentally sensitive and in a Buddhist cultural setting country, Thailand.

This paper looks at Thai environmental disclosures from the perspective of soft law and institutional signalling, which is an original and unique contribution to CSR literature, considered through the lens of institutional legitimacy.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

This research examines the direct and interactive effects of defendant race and sex on judicial decisions to utilize mitigating departures in cases involving felony drug convictions in Virginia.

Logistic regression models are used to examine judicial decisions to depart downward in Schedule I & II, and Other (Schedule III, VI, and V), drug cases. The direct and interactive effects of race and sex on departure decisions are modeled separately for Schedule I & II and Other drug offenses.

Defendant race and sex exert both direct and interactive effects on decisions to sentence offenders below the guidelines for both drug categories. Cases involving Black and male defendants, relative to white and female defendants, are significantly less likely to result in mitigating departures for Schedule I & II, and Other drug, violations. The interaction models indicate that cases involving Black male defendants are less likely to result in mitigating departures than other cases, while cases involving white females have higher odds of receiving mitigating departures than other cases.

This chapter adds to the current literature on sentencing disparity by examining unwarranted sentencing disparity in Virginia, where scant research has been conducted. Furthermore, this research models decisions separately by drug category and examines both the direct and interactive effects of race and sex.

This paper aims to investigate the extent international and domestic guidelines have influenced the content of corporate environmental reporting (CER) in the context of China’s radical institutional transition from bureaucratic secrecy to openness, marked by the first nationwide guidelines on Open Government Information (OGI) and Open Environment Information (OEI), effective in 2008.

The study develops a research instrument that captures international and Chinese national guidelines pertaining to environmental information disclosure. This instrument is used to analyse 471 reports of leading 100 listed Chinese companies for the critical period between 2006 and 2010. Chi-square test statistics are used to analyse the significance of differences in reporting items supported by Chinese guidelines versus those supported by international reporting guidelines only.

Partial convergence in climate-change reporting co-exists with divergent China specific interpretation of climate change. The coercive institutional influences of the Chinese government’s guidance in OGI and OEI led to the rapid growth of CER in 2008 compared to 2006, despite compliance being voluntary.

The study is innovative in explicitly measuring any changes in reporting relative to the potential for additional reporting. Such a method more accurately evaluates the effect of institutional influences on reporting. The study provides a fresh profile of the content and the reporting medium of CER, with a particular focus on climate change in the Chinese context. The findings highlight research into CER based on annual reports risks results being incomplete and misleading. Findings have practical implications for policy makers in other emerging economies.

The purpose of this paper is to show the impact that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have on the evolution of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). GRI is a sustainability report disclosed by business organizations to meet the demands and interests of various stakeholders. These stakeholders’ needs have influenced GRI and its guidelines.

The methodology for this paper is library-based archival research. It is qualitatively and analytically descriptive of prior academic research and published literature on the subject.

Sustainability accounting rulemaking has evolved overtime resulting in proliferation of reporting rules. These rules have improved the extent and scope of environmental and economic performances that businesses disclose in GRI.

GRI has provided the foundation for integrated reporting (IR). Both GRI and IR have ecological and functional dimensions. Sustainability is functionally inherent in the accounting principle of materiality, when disclosed in external reporting. The ongoing concern of business assumes an organization is systemic and operates as a living entity only when it can provide sustainable performance that benefits stakeholders and society.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and pattern of the sufficiency economy philosophy (SEP) reporting of listed companies from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) between 2012 and 2016, and to compare the SEP scores of reporting in the companies’ corporate annual reports during the period studied and between four groups of interest, based on ownership status, country of origin of company, type of auditor and type of industry.

Listed companies of the SET were used as the population, whereas a sample of 70 firms was investigated in the study. Content analysis by checklist was used to quantify the extent and pattern of SEP reporting in annual reports.

The results showed that the average score for SEP reporting was 44.28 out of a possible 64 categories of reporting included in the checklist. Moreover, there was a significant increase in the SEP reporting score during the period studied. The results also indicated that there was a significant difference in the SEP reporting scores between groups, based on country of origin, auditor type and industry type.

As the first longitudinal study of SEP reporting in Thailand, the study demonstrated the effective rule of SET to Thai listed companies providing higher voluntary information reporting during period being study.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the simultaneous effect of the regulation (non-financial information (NFI)- 254/2016) and the factors driving in (no)environmental disclosure (ED) and the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) of Italian companies.

The study is supported by the theory of legitimacy. The level of ED regarding GHG was measured for 125 Italian companies in 2018, the companies were selected from Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa di Itália, because those included in the list of companies in the Dichiarazione Non Finanziaria all date back to December 31, 2019. Using a scoring system and content analysis of their annual reports, through 20 criteria supported by the literature. The study explores variables of the current legislation, the effect of disclosure and no disclosure, and the influence of the shareholding structure, managerial shareholding, economic power and industry classification at the ED level. The analyses were carried out using structural equation modeling because the authors seek to understand the cause-effect relationship between aspects of legitimacy with dissemination on GHG emissions.

This study finds that NFI.

The study is limited to understanding the effect of legislation on the level of mandatory disclosure in non-financial reports, and the Paris Agreement (voluntary) disclosure on GHG, so the choice of companies analyzed and the study variables are limited to companies that are required to publish non-financial reports, and the variables considered in the study take into account normative aspects and voluntary guidelines of the Paris Agreement. As implications, the results show that adherence to the Paris Agreement contributes more to the quality and comprehensiveness of the information than adherence to the European and Italian legislation (mandatory), which reinforces the understanding that even if the legislation has advanced, it is still soft regarding the quality of information on companies' practices regarding the reduction of GHG emissions.

The findings suggest that non-financial reports are being adopted by listed Italian companies, however, there is variation in the scope of the reports, especially on GHG. For companies listed in Italy, non-financial reports comply with Italian Legislative Decree 254/2016 (mandatory), however, the quality of information on GHG is improved when companies' reports have greater adherence to the Paris Agreement (voluntary).

The results can encourage companies listed in Italy to incorporate NFI in annual reports based on the Paris Agreement, the global pact to reduce GHG emissions, thus building confidence in the capital market and society in general.

The findings contribute to the literature on non-financial reporting, the level of compliance with legal basis and international best practices, such as the Paris Agreement, providing empirical analyzes of non-financial disclosures in publicly available reports in Italy.