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This study aimed to use a scanner as a low-cost method for measuring the opacity of textile fabric. Textile fabrics must have specific ranges of opacity according to their uses for shirting, curtaining, etc. In this way, opacity is an important property in the textile industry. Conventionally, textile opacity is estimated using a spectrophotometer, which is an expensive method.

In this study a scanner was used as a low-cost method for measuring the opacity of textile fabric. The opacity was estimated by using red, green and blue (RGB) parameters of images of fabric against white and black background.

The accuracy of opacity estimation was improved by converting RGB into several color spaces. The best opacity estimation was obtained by using the XYZ color space. In addition, using a regression method, the best estimation was obtained by using a fourth-order polynomial regression with the LSLM color space.

The opacity of fabric has been measured by spectrophotometer, but in this study, the opacity of fabric was measured by scanner as a low cost device and also with novel and simple method. This method achieved acceptable accuracy for opacity estimation. The obtained result is comparable with spectrophotometer results.

Many decision rules are rational but opaque, and many others are irrational but transparent. This paper aims to propose a theoretical framework to operationalize opacity in decision-making – the degree to which a decision rule is intelligible to the decision maker.

The authors operationalize opacity and discuss the implication of opaque decision-making in organizational settings through a typology, where decision rules can be rational or irrational and opaque or transparent.

The authors show that opacity is asymmetric as different organizational actors possess different degrees of knowledge about how the decision rules work. Organizational actors often opacify the decision rules to increase their power (based on asymmetric knowledge). Opacity also presents a significant impact on organizational accountability, as transparent organizations are more reputable.

This contribution represents the first theoretical and methodological articulation of opacity in decision-making, within a bounded and ecological rationality framework; it also sheds new light on the role of cognitive biases in organizational settings.

The study examines the impact of uncertainty on bank opacity while particularly taking into account the moderating role of market structures.

Using a sample of Vietnamese banks from 2007 to 2019, the paper measures uncertainty at the disaggregate level of the banking sector through the dispersion of bank shocks and capture bank opacity from the perspective of bank earnings management based on discretionary loan loss provisions. The authors apply both structural and non-structural proxies of bank competition/concentration to better explore the role of market structures. Empirical regressions are conducted using the fixed effect regressions with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors and the two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) technique, and then verified by the least squares dummy variable corrected (LSDVC) estimator.

Bank earnings opacity is less severe in periods of higher uncertainty. Further analysis documents that the negative impact of uncertainty on bank earnings opacity is stronger when the level of bank competition increases or when bank market power decreases.

The finding highlighting the conditioning role of market structures is entirely novel in the uncertainty-bank opacity literature. Moreover, in providing additional evidence on the significant impact of uncertainty on bank opacity, while prior related studies explore economic policy uncertainty, the authors utilize micro uncertainty in banking that exhibits enormous superiority.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and test the determinates of earnings opacity internationally. The determinates are hypothesized to be the elements of social, economic and accounting order in each of the 34 countries of the study.

A sample of 34 countries’ data was collected and data estimation and several statistical and correlations were performed.

Earnings opacity internationally is negatively related to the levels of economic freedom and quality of life, and positively related to rule of law, economic growth and level of corruption. Further, the findings are surprising that the level of disclosure, the number of auditors per 100,000 inhabitants and the adoption of international accounting standards (as elements of the accounting order) are not significantly related to earnings opacity internationally. It is the social and economic climate rather than the technical accounting climate that is at the core of the lack of accounting quality in general and earnings opacity in particular.

Elements of accounting order do not seem to affect earnings opacity as much as social and economic characteristics. It is the economic and the social context rather than the technical that explicates better the level of accounting quality in general and the level of earnings opacity in particular in a given country. Earnings opacity is higher as a result of higher rule of law, economic growth and level of corruption, and lower as result of higher level of economic freedom and quality of life.

This paper examines how accounting quality, as measured by earnings opacity, affects the stock market wealth effect, which in turn is shown to be linked to economic growth. Stock market wealth effect is negatively affected by earnings opacity. The data also indicate that the exogenous component of the stock market wealth effect — the component defined by earnings opacity‐ is positively associated with economic growth. The direct effect of earnings opacity on economic growth is, as expected negative, but insignificant.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and earnings opacity in China.

Two corporate governance mechanisms form the basis of the analysis: 1) the board of directors and 2) the external audit function. OLS regression analysis is employed on a large sample from 2000 to 2014 with 20,235 firm-year observations.

Corporate governance is found to be associated with reduced levels of earnings opacity for Chinese listed companies. Furthermore, the association between corporate governance and reduced levels of earnings opacity strengthened after the implementation of various key reforms.

Chinese regulators are advised to proceed with caution as not all Western approaches to corporate governance are transferrable to the Chinese setting.

This study contributes to the literature by analyzing broad latent constructs of corporate governance in addition to individual observable dimensions in order to reveal that various key reforms have been successful in strengthening the link between governance and reporting quality for Chinese listed companies.

Output per worker varies significantly from one country to another. Why? Our analysis shows that differences in earnings opacity are important sources of this variation. Earnings opacity is a measure that reflects how little information there is in a firm's earnings number about its true, but unobservable, economic performance. According to our results, a high‐productivity country has the accounting quality associated with low earnings opacity. Results further suggest that the quality of accounting in general, and low earnings opacity in particular helps a country by stimulating the accumulation of human and physical capital and by raising its total factor productivity.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the informational opacity of Tunisian banks versus non‐banking firms taking into account information environment changes.

This research uses the synchronicity of stock returns as a proxy of informational opacity. It also examines bank crash risk relying on the skewness of residual returns. Finally, the study addresses the effects of mandatory disclosure requirements on firm opacity and market volatility.

The results suggest that bank stock prices incorporate less specific information than non‐banks. Moreover, banks are more likely to experience stock price crashes. However, the authors find a significant decrease of informational opacity for both banking and non‐banking firms since 2006 which supports substantial improvements in the corporate disclosure environment.

The findings are interesting for regulators. Banks with high stock returns synchronicity and negative residual returns skewness are more opaque and are significantly exposed to crash risk. Consequently, they deserve greater regulatory scrutiny. Thus, the opacity measures derived from the asset pricing model could be a useful tool for monitoring disclosure policies in the banking sector.

The paper extends the empirical literature on the determinants of bank stock returns synchronicity and skewness for an emerging economy, Tunisia. The information environment offers an empirical opportunity to examine the dynamics of opacity as well as the desirability of mandatory disclosure requirements in the banking system.

This paper relates to the literature on central bank (CB) transparency and inflation uncertainty. Considering that opacity is a possible source for inflation uncertainty the purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that increase in the dispersion of the degree of CB opacity generates higher levels of inflation uncertainty.

In a first step, the authors present a theoretical model that shows how increase in the dispersion of the degree of CB opacity creates higher levels of inflation uncertainty. In a second step, the authors test the assumption that increase in the dispersion of the degree of CB opacity generates higher levels of inflation uncertainty in the Brazilian economy.

The findings denote that CB transparency is an important tool for guiding public expectations and thus contributes to avoiding the uncertainty caused by CB preferences.

This paper extends the theoretical model presented by de Mendonça and Simão Filho (2007) by the theoretical link between the forecast error and opacity. Furthermore, because the theoretical underpinning relies on the CB guiding inflation expectations, the authors construct an uncertainty measure based on survey of forecasts where such expectations can be inferred through the variability in the forecast error.

This paper aims to identify what are the moderating factors affecting the relationship between firms’ adoption of international financial and reporting standards (IFRS) and the firm’s opacity.

This study uses the meta-analysis methodology from Hunter et al. (1982) to find if the mere IFRS adoption reduces firm’s opacity and a meta-regression from Stanley and Jarrell (1989) to identify the moderating factors that may influence this relationship.

Contrary to previous studies, this study finds a low, negative and nonsignificant correlation between IFRS adoption and firms’ opacity, but this relationship depends on the geographical region. Using 34 results from 28 studies from different continents published between 2005 and 2018 this study finds that IFRS adoption reduces opacity in countries with common law (COML) and with more authorities’ oversight and power to enforce the rules.

This study finds two institutional commonalities between different previous studies that intend to assess the impact of the IFRS adoption upon firms’ opacity: the legal system and the authorities’ oversight power.