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We examine how superstition shapes corporate tax avoidance and do so by taking a risk perspective and focusing on the zodiac-year belief prevalent in China.

We adopt a difference-in-differences research design to compare the degree of corporate tax avoidance in the CEOs’ zodiac year with that in the adjacent years. We do propensity-score matching to form a sample of Chinese listed firms for the regression analysis.

We find causal evidence that firms exhibit a greater magnitude of tax avoidance in the CEOs’ zodiac years, a result attributable to relatively weak tax enforcement in the Chinese context. We also find that the zodiac-year effect on corporate tax avoidance is more pronounced for firms with tight financial constraints, firms with high business risk, firms headquartered in regions with a high degree of superstition and non-state-owned firms.

This study is the first to show that superstition is a determinant factor of tax avoidance and contributes to the tax literature by shedding light on the behavioral risk factors that shape corporate tax avoidance. We take the perspective of CEOs’ risk appetite to analyze how tax avoidance is influenced by the CEOs’ trade-off between the costs and benefits of avoiding taxes. Our results suggest that, when CEOs are more risk-averse, they attach more importance to financial risk than the risk of reputational losses and litigation associated with corporate tax avoidance. The findings imply that tax avoidance can be curbed by increasing (or decreasing) the tax (financial) risk confronting the CEOs.

This study aims to investigate the role of negative media coverage of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in deterring tax avoidance. Inspired by media agenda-setting theory and legitimacy theory, this study hypothesises that an increase in ESG negative media coverage should cause a reputational drawback, leading companies to reduce tax avoidance to regain their legitimacy. Hence, this study examines a novel channel that links ESG and taxation.

This study uses panel regression analysis to examine the relationship between negative media coverage of ESG issues and tax avoidance among the largest European entities. This study considers different measures of tax avoidance and negative media coverage.

The results show that negative media coverage of ESG issues is negatively associated with tax avoidance, suggesting that media can act as an external monitor for corporate taxation.

The findings have implications for policymakers and regulators, which should consider tax transparency when dealing with ESG disclosure requirements. Tax disclosure should be integrated into ESG reporting.

The study has social implications related to the media, which act as watchdogs for firms’ irresponsible practices. According to this study’s findings, increased media pressure has the power to induce a better alignment between declared ESG policies and tax strategies.

This study contributes to the literature on the mechanisms that discourage tax avoidance and the literature on the relationship between ESG and taxation by shedding light on the role of media coverage.

This study aims to understand the investments made by Indian MNCs in different tax havens to optimize their tax liabilities. The study also aims to provide insights into the conceptual framework of such practices, highlighting potential benefits and risks and providing policy recommendations that promote transparency, fairness and sustainable economic practices.

The study involves a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative aspect analyzes investments made by Nifty 50 companies in tax haven jurisdictions from the financial data of the parent company from 2019 to 2023. The qualitative aspect involves a conceptual framework developed from previous studies and examining the role of various organizations in combating tax avoidance. This mixed-method approach enables a comprehensive understanding of the motivations, impacts and regulatory responses related to the use of tax havens.

The paper provides conceptual and descriptive insights on investments made by Indian MNCs in tax havens during 2019–21 to save tax. The study suggests that while investing in tax havens, businesses give more priority to ease of doing business and other considerations such as a lower tax rate.

The present study suggests policymakers about the effectiveness of current tax laws and their enforcement, highlighting loopholes and potential avenues for modification.

This paper assesses the reasons for Indian MNCs starting subsidiaries and making investments in different tax haven jurisdictions and suggests appropriate measures to avoid the menace of tax havens.

The objective of this study is to generate new fiscal transparency indicators based on fiscal sustainability reports voluntarily disclosed by Chilean companies, leaders in Latin America in the issuance of green, social and sustainability corporate bonds (OECD, 2023a; OECD, 2018).

The sample included the analysis of sustainability reports of 30 Chilean companies with the highest market capitalization published in the period 2021. A correlation was carried out for each of the companies in the sample with the intention of detecting differences between several groups of paired dichotomous variables. For this, Cochran's Q test was used; the McNemar test; the Friedman test; the Wilcoxon test; the Levene test and the Kruskal−Wallis test were also used.

In the case of the companies in the sample, for the 2021 period there was an increase in disclosures of tax strategies compared to the study carried out by Faúndez-Ugalde et al. (2022) for the period 2020. However, there is still a lower degree of compliance in reporting fiscal risks and “country by country” information.

The commitment of companies to assume tax transparency standards improves their behavior in compliance with their tax obligations and provides greater certainty to develop actions to mitigate their tax risks.

The results demonstrate practical implications, where fiscal sustainability reports can enhance the work of tax administrations by defining indicators of good fiscal practices.

This study expands the research on the fiscal sustainability standards of Chilean companies, thus providing a deeper understanding of their performance regarding fiscal transparency.

There are variations in religious social norms and legal environments around the world. In this paper, we aim to examine the interaction between variations in religious social norms and legal environments on real activities manipulations and expense misclassification using a global sample of 63 countries. Our inquiry is motivated by a paucity of research on the interaction between legal environment and religion on earnings management practices in an international setting.

This study draws on a global sample of 63 countries to examine the effect of variations in religious social norms and legal environments on the trade-off between expense misclassification and real activities earnings management practices. Firm-specific financial data come from Global Compustat. Religion data are obtained from World Values Surveys of the World Bank. We obtain legal environment scores from the International Country Risk Guide.

Findings suggest that the interaction between law and religion serves as constraints on both classification shifting and real activities manipulation around the world. We find that religion strengthens the weak legal environment and the strong legal environment strengthens the weak religious environment to decrease both real activities manipulation and classification shifting when law and religion interact in an international setting. Therefore, our results contradict Zang's (2012) earnings management trade-off evidence. Again, our results contradict Malikov et al.’s (2018) evidence that mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption is associated with increased real activities manipulation.

The study is limited to 63 countries limiting the generalizability of the findings.

This study provides novel evidence and shows that there is a link between law and religion. The interaction between law and religion decreases expense misclassification and real activities manipulation. We contribute that the interaction between religion and law benefits firms and increases shareholder value as real activities manipulation decreases. Therefore, strengthening the legal environment will complement religion, IFRS and other monitoring mechanisms put in place to mitigate unethical expense misclassification and real activities earnings manipulation around the world.

The purpose of this paper is to garner a deeper understanding of the site of influence of aspects of risk management for tax practitioners.

The research design is twofold. Phase one consisted of a wide-scale international survey with 1,061 tax experts across 59 jurisdictions. In phase two, the authors followed up with 68 semi-structured interviews with tax practitioners working in 11 different countries.

The findings recognise the importance of the firm as a significant “site of influence” for tax practitioners in shaping their risk appetite in their tax work. The firm eclipses other influences of risk such as professional body oversight, public interest and demographic markers such as gender and career stage. The authors show that firm is significant, irrespective of size of firm.

This work has practical implications as the findings highlight the importance of oversight of professional service firms by both the professional accountancy bodies and revenue authorities. The findings may have impact on the ethical training and guidance for trainee accountants in terms of an increased awareness on the employing firm as a site of influence for tax practitioners.

This research is important as it adds to the significant body of work on firm socialisation and highlights the important role that the firm holds in moderating (or exacerbating) the risk appetite of tax practitioners, which has significant implications in terms of pushing the boundaries of tax aggressive behaviours. The work aims to recognise the important role that tax practitioners can have in moderating aggressive tax practice, and, thus, reducing tax inequalities and shaping a better world of “Reduced Inequalities” (SDG10).

The study investigates the influence of inclusive growth on tax revenue. It validates the fiscal exchange and resource bargaining theories, which suggest that tax compliance improves when citizens perceive that their tax contributions lead to enhanced welfare and that the government negotiates with people to provide public goods and services in exchange for taxes received.

The paper employs inclusive growth measures, including an integrated GDP and equity growth measure and alternative proxies based on GDP per person employed and Asian Development Bank (ADB) inclusive growth indicators. Using 39 sub-Saharan African countries as a sample, our analysis captures spatial interactions across these contiguous countries using the Fixed-Effect model with the Driscoll and Kraay non-parametric consistent covariance matrix and the spatial Durbin Arellano–Bond linear dynamic panel generalized method of moment (Spatial GMM) approach with an interaction weight matrix to capture interactions between countries in the region.

The paper shows that inclusive growth positively influences tax revenue in the region. This validates the fiscal exchange and resource bargaining hypotheses, demonstrating that tax compliance is positively influenced by public goods provision and the government’s ability to emphasize the necessity of taxes for service provision. It indicates that citizens are more willing to pay taxes when the government effectively promotes welfare. We find a significant positive spatial spillover effect, suggesting that inclusive growth not only boosts tax revenue within a specific country but also extends its benefits to neighboring countries, aligning with the spillover theory.

The study posits that the government implements policies that guarantee effectiveness and accountability in public welfare delivery as well as sufficient tax bases and tax revenue. An inclusive growth policy that engenders GDP growth, employment and equity growth should be implemented since the rate of tax compliance of the citizens improves for every welfare provided by the government.

This study tests the validity of the fiscal exchange and resource bargaining theories in Sub-Saharan Africa. Accommodating spatial dependence and cross-border effects, the study sheds light on how inclusive growth impacts tax revenue across contiguous countries in the region. As such, the region should prioritize regional integration, fostering economic ties and harmonizing policies through knowledge sharing and cross-border investment.

This study aims to investigate the association between the co-option of the chief financial officer (CFO) and dividend payments, assessing whether the talent of the CFO affects this association.

The empirical analyses were based on hand-collected data for 922 firm-year observations from 157 European listed firms, during the period 2013–2019. Empirical models, based on a two-step estimation procedure, involved the use of instrumental variables and the generalised moment method.

The results show that CFO co-option is negatively associated with the level of dividend payments. It was also found that the degree of CFO talent moderates the negative association between CFO co-option and dividend payments.

This investigation responds to the call for literature which examines how chief executive officer (CEO) – CFO relationships influence firms’ policies and outcomes. The study offers novel evidence for the individual-level characteristics of CFOs which are likely to reduce the effectiveness of CEO power and increase monitoring on corporate decisions on dividends.

The study sheds light on the effect of the interactions between CEOs and CFOs, which are important for investors’ expectations. In this regard, investors may be interested in the CFO profiles which may reduce CEO power over dividend policies.

Unlike previous research, which focused on CEOs, the authors are the first to shed light on the role of CFOs as key decision makers in influencing the dividend policies in modern corporations.

This study aims to investigate the role of freight forwarding companies in detecting and reporting trade-based money laundering. The proximity of freight forwarding companies to shipping-related trade-based money laundering red flags places them in an ideal position to detect suspicious transactions.

The study used semi-structured interviews with expert participants in freight forwarding shipping and compliance aspects around freight forwarding. This study focuses on the South African context.

Freight forwarding companies are well-positioned to detect, investigate and report on trade-based money laundering schemes. However, the companies are not always aware of the guidelines designed to assist in identifying trade-based money laundering schemes. Thus, freight forwarding companies develop internal processes to identify trade anomalies but are often unable to link trade anomalies to illegal financial flows and trade-based money laundering schemes.

The current regulations on money laundering can be extended to freight forwarding companies by the respective regulators for enhanced anti-money laundering protection. This study is limited to freight forwarding companies in a South African context.

Increased awareness among staff in freight forwarding companies can assist them in identifying trade-based money laundering red flags to detect and prevent trade-based money laundering schemes.

This paper assists other role players and policymakers in the trade process to create a better awareness of trade-based money laundering. The limited obligations on freight forwarding companies to comply with anti-money laundering regulations lead to a more volunteer-like compliance practice.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that offers insight into the role of freight forwarding companies in detecting trade-based money laundering in South Africa.

The effects of integrated reporting quality (IRQ) have been debated in increasing empirical studies. Several IRQ measures, different theoretical approaches and multiple contexts have been adopted and investigated, leading to mixed results. By using the meta-analytic technique, this study aims to contribute to the accounting literature, reconciling the conflicting results on the effects of IRQ and providing objective conclusions to complement narrative literature reviews.

A sample of 45 empirical papers from 2013 to 2022, with 653 effect sizes, was used to assess the effects associated with IRQ. The papers were clustered into five groups (market reaction, financial performance, cost of capital, financial analysts’ properties and managerial decisions) based on the different consequences of IRQ investigated in the primary studies. A random-effects meta-regression model was used to explore all sources of heterogeneity together.

The meta-regression results confirm that IRQ positively influences firms’ market valuation and financial performance and hampers opportunistic managerial behaviour by improving corporate transparency, mitigating information asymmetry and encouraging accountability. Moreover, differences in the study characteristics affect the strength of the relationship object of interest.

Through meta-analysis, this study provides a broader overview of the effects of IRQ by enhancing the generalisability of the findings. The results also pave the way for additional evidence on the outcome variables affected by the quality of integrated disclosure.