Corporate Environmental Disclosure, Corporate Governance and Earnings Management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between corporate environmental disclosure (CED) and earnings management (EM) and the impact of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms on that association. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses performance-matched discretionary accruals (DA) as a measure of EM. The paper also uses ordinary least square regression with robust standard errors to examine the association between CED and EM for a sample of 245 UK non-financial firms for the financial year ended on March 2007. Three different theoretical frameworks are used to identify the expected association between CER and EM. These include: signalling, agency and stakeholder-legitimacy theories. Findings – The paper finds no significant statistical association between various measures of DA and environmental disclosure. The paper also finds that some CG attributes affect the relationship between CER and EM. Practical implications – The result suggests that UK corporate managers are not using environmental disclosure as a technique to reduce the probability that public policy actions will be taken against their companies. Originality/value – Since most empirical research is limited to the US setting, this paper provides a novel contribution to the existing literature, as one of the first to examine this issue in the UK

Do corporate governance mechanisms and ESG disclosure drive CSR narrative tones?

This study explores the underlying drivers of the tone of corporate social responsibility (CSR) narratives by considering four corporate governance mechanisms and examining whether there is a relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure and the CSR narrative tone based on a sample of UK firms from 2008 to 2017. The results show that more independent directors would lead to a less optimistic language (positive tone) and a more pessimistic language (negative tone) in the CSR report. The results also show that a higher ESG disclosure score leads to a more positive CSR narrative tone. However, gender diversity has a positive impact on the positivity of CSR tone when the ESG score is medium or high and when the board size exceeds 10 members. These findings are relevant for policymakers, investors, and firm managers. For instance, the findings inform regulators and policymakers about the relevant governance mechanisms that affect the tone of CSR reports

The fog index in accounting research: contributions and challenges

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to review the use of the fog index in accounting research. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology with a sample of 126 accounting research articles. The review applies the theoretical framework of disclosure's stewardship, valuation and accountability roles to identify the contributions and challenges of using the fog index in accounting research. Findings: This paper shows that the primary contribution of the fog index to accounting research relates to the disclosure obfuscation hypothesis (e.g. whether management obfuscates narratives associated with earnings). It also finds that the challenge in using the fog index is in disentangling its measure of firm environmental complexity from narrative obfuscation. Regarding disclosure utility, there is limited evidence on the differential effects of complexity on investor types and whether the fog index findings are associated with narrative obfuscation or firm environmental complexity is driven by investor types. Research limitations/implications: The authors develop a research database of fog index studies categorised based on contributions to disclosure obfuscation or disclosure utility, highlighting contributions to the stewardship, valuation and accountability roles of disclosures, which researchers can use to develop future studies. Originality/value: This paper contributes to accounting literature by offering the first comprehensive review on the use of the fog index in accounting research. It offers researchers a consolidated review of the study of linguistic complexity of accounting information and disclosure functions using a theoretical framework that can inform regulators, policymakers and future researchers in designing future research/policy

Does managerial ability and auditor report readability affect corporate liquidity and cost of debt?

Purpose: This study investigates the impact of managerial ability and auditor report readability on the cost of debt and corporate liquidity in Omani-listed industrial companies. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses data from the S&P Capital IQ database and audited annual reports published on Muscat Securities Market. The sample consists of 35 firms (175 firm-year observations) from 2015 to 2019. Managerial ability is measured using the data envelopment analysis proposed by Demerjian et al. (2012a, b). Auditor report readability is measured as a log of the auditor report digital file size proposed by Loughran and McDonald (2014). Findings: This study finds that a company's managerial ability reduces the cost of debt lending support to upper echelons and agency theory. Highly able managers of industrial companies are associated with increased corporate liquidity consistent with the precautionary motive of holding cash. In addition, less-readable auditor reports contribute to higher debt costs and reduce corporate liquidity. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, few studies have explored the influence of managerial ability and auditor reporting readability on firms' financial policy. For industrial-sector firms, this study demonstrates the managerial ability and readability of auditor readability as significant determinants of the cost of debt and corporate liquidity, especially during periods of uncertainty. Thus, the findings can be generalized to other non-financial sector firms in the country and the Middle East

Carillion’s strategic choices and boardroom’s strategies of persuasive appeals: ethos, logos, pathos

Companies documents such as annual reports incorporate narratives of repetitive rhetorical strategiesas effective mechanisms adopted by companies’ boardrooms to promote strategic change and strategicchoices. These mechanisms can be viewed as persuasive appeals to facilitate boardroom discourses.Yet, such persuasive appeals are instrumental in releasing significant signs regarding the outcomes ofunsuccessful strategic choices that led companies to collapse such as Enron (USA) and Carillion (UK).Despite the contribution of previous research through narrative analysis domains, conceptualizationof narrative practices remains a relatively a neglected area in the extant accounting literature. Thisstudy attempts to offer insights to boardrooms discourses through critical discourse analysis ofpersuasive strategies embedded in company’s annual reports. Findings of this study show howpersuasive strategies and repetitive slogans trigger the discourses of Carillion’s annual reports bydrawing on perspectives from upper echelon theory, impression management and communicationpatterns. Our analytical framework is rooted in Aristotle’s three pillars of rhetorical proofs; ethos(credibility/trustworthiness), pathos (emotion/identification through cultural domains) and logos(reason/rationale) in investigating narrative extracts regarding persuasive appeals strategies adoptedby Carillion’s board through annual reports that facilitate discourse regarding Carillion strategicchoices. Further, we emphasis on repetitive rhetorical slogans strategies embedded in the annualreports regarding Carillion’s acquisitions strategy. We viewed acquisitions narratives as rhetoricalcommunication artefacts and analyze the repetitive rhetoric slogans in these corporate documents.Findings reveal that Carillion’ board strategically use repetitive rhetoric slogans to shape optimisticcorporate future performance which might be different from the feasible reality. Finally, we argue thatcorporate executives are striving to construct an alternative reality stem from their initial unrealisticaspiration to lead their sector of less controlled market share. Findings of this study have theoreticaland managerial implications

ESG disclosure and firm performance before and after IR: The moderating role of governance mechanisms

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effect of environmental, social, and governance disclosure (ESGD) on firm performance (FP) before and after the introduction of integrated reporting (IR) further to exploring a potential moderation effect of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Ordinary least squares (OLS) and firm-fixed effects models were estimated based on data related to FTSE 350 between 2009 and 2018. The data has been mainly collected from Bloomberg and Capital IQ. This analysis was supplemented with applying a two-stage least squares (2 SLS) model to address any concerns regarding the expected occurrence of endogeneity problems. Findings The results show a positive and significant relationship between ESGD score and firm performance before and after 2013, among a sample of FTSE 350. Furthermore, the study is suggestive of a moderation effect of CG mechanisms (i.e., ownership concentration, gender diversity and board size) on the ESGD-FP nexus. Additionally, this paper finds that firms voluntarily associated with IR have a tendency to achieve better firm financial performance. Practical implications The findings of the present study have several policy and practitioner implications. For example, managers may engage in ESGD to enhance their firms’ financial performance by the voluntary involvement in IR, which believed to help investors to rationalise their investment decisions. Likewise, the results reiterate the crucial need to integrate more social, environmental and economic regulations to promote sustainability in the UK. The paper also offers a systematic picture for policymakers in the UK as well as future researchers. Social implications The findings of this paper indicate that IR plays a significant role in the relationship between ESGD and FP, where IR firms seemed to be achieving better FP as compared with their nonIR counterparts. This implies that stakeholders may have played a magnificent effort to encourage firms’ voluntary engagement in IR in the UK. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the potential moderating effect of ownership concentration, gender diversity and board size on the relationship between ESGD and FP and to examine whether firms’ voluntary involvement in IR can lead to better FP after the introduction of IR in 2013 in the UK

The Effects of Voluntary Disclosure and Dividend Propensity on Prices Leading Earnings

We investigate the joint effects of dividend propensity (i.e. whether a firm pays cash dividends) and voluntary disclosure on the relationship between current stock returns and future earnings. We examine whether dividend propensity and voluntary disclosure act as substitutes or complements in the financial communication process. We also examine whether the effects of dividend propensity and voluntary disclosure vary between high- and lowgrowth firms. Consistent with prior studies, we find that share price anticipation of earnings improves with increasing levels of annual report narrative disclosure, and that firms that pay dividends exhibit higher levels of share price anticipation of earnings than non-dividend-paying firms. The paper adds to the literature on share price anticipation of earnings in two crucial respects. First we show that the associations of voluntary disclosure and dividend propensity with share price anticipation of earnings are statistically significant for high-growth firms and insignificant for low-growth firms. Second we show that the significant effects we find for dividend propensity and voluntary disclosure in high-growth firms are not perfectly additive

Voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy: determinants and outcomes. An empirical study into the risks and payoffs of communicating corporate strategy.

Business leaders increasingly face pressure from stakeholders to be transparent. There appears however little consensus on the risks and payoffs of disclosing vital information such as corporate strategy. To fill this gap, this study analyzes firm-specific determinants and organisational outcomes of voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. Stakeholder theory and agency theory help to understand whether companies serve their interest to engage with stakeholders and overcome information asymmetries. I connect these theories and propose a comprehensive approach to measure voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. Hypotheses from the theoretical framework are empirically tested through panel regression of data on identified determinants and outcomes and of disclosed strategy through annual reports, corporate social responsibility reports, corporate websites and corporate press releases by the 70 largest publicly listed companies in the Netherlands from 2003 through 2008. I found that industry, profitability, dual-listing status, national ranking status and listing age have significant effects on voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. No significant effects are found for size, leverage and ownership concentration. On outcomes, I found that liquidity of stock and corporate reputation are significantly influenced by voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. No significant effect is found for volatility of stock. My contributions to theory, methodology and empirics offers a stepping-stone for further research into understanding how companies can use transparency to manage stakeholder relations

The association between dividend payout and outside directorships

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the number of outside directors on the board of directors and dividend payout are substitutes or complements mechanisms applied by UK firms to control agency conflicts of interest within the firm. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use tobit and logit regression models to examine the extent to which firms with a majority of outside directors on their boards experience significantly lower or higher dividend payout after controlling for insider ownership, profitability, liquidity, asset structure, business risk, firm size, firms' growth rate and borrowing ratio. Findings – Based on a sample of 400 non-financial firms listed at London Stock Exchange for the period from 1991 to 2002, it was found that dividend payout is negatively associated with the number of outside directors on the board of directors. Originality/value – The results suggest that firms pay lower dividends when higher number of outside directors is employed on the board. This evidence is consistent with the substitution hypothesis, which indicated that firms with weak corporate governance need to establish a reputation by paying dividends. In other words, dividends substitute for independent directors on the board. This finding offers novel insights to policy makers interested in agency conflicts of interest within the firm. It also provides evidence on the use of different substitute mechanisms for reducing agency costs

Future-oriented narrative reporting: determinants and use

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of future-oriented information in UK annual report narrative sections. The paper also investigates the association between corporate dividend policy and levels of future-oriented information, as a proxy for information asymmetry. Design/methodology/approach – A computer-based-content analysis is used to measure levels of future-oriented information. Tobit and logit regressions are then applied in order to examine the impact of firm characteristics, and corporate governance characteristics on future-oriented disclosure. In further tests, Tobit and logit regression models are used to investigate the association between corporate dividend policy and levels of future-oriented information. Findings – The authors find that firm size is the main factor affecting the firms’ levels of future-oriented information. This variable is statistically significant in five regression models. In addition, the authors find that profitability, outsider directorships, and insider ownerships affect the levels of future-oriented information. However, the significance of these variables depends on whether fixed effects or random effects models are used and whether year dummies are included or excluded in the analyses. Finally, the authors find a positive association between corporate dividend policy and information asymmetry (measured by the levels of future-oriented information). Originality/value – This paper contributes to the existing disclosure studies in two crucial ways. First, it offers the first evidence that levels of future-oriented information are driven by some firm characteristics, and some corporate governance mechanisms. Second, it offers the first UK evidence of the association between corporate dividend policy and information asymmetry. The results show that dividends and information asymmetry are negatively associated