scholarly journals Government Reform, Regulatory Change and Carbon Disclosure: Evidence from Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13282
Author(s):  
Parvez Mia ◽  
Tarek Rana ◽  
Lutfa Tilat Ferdous
Keyword(s):  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Regulatory Change ◽  
Regulatory Guidance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government

This paper examines the effect of two Australian environmental regulatory changes, specifically the Clean Energy Act (CEA) 2011 and the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Act 2007 with reference to voluntary corporate carbon disclosure practices. In doing so, it describes the brief history of this carbon-related regulatory change, its scope, enforcement criteria and corporations’ disclosures. This is a longitudinal analysis of 219 annual reports of 73 listed corporations in Australia which were subjected to carbon tax and report carbon emissions as per the CEA 2011 and NGER Act 2007 accordingly. Any corporation or facility that emitted scope 1 emissions of 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) or more were liable for a carbon tax in accordance with CEA 2011. Drawing on stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory, this study uses content analysis to examine corporate carbon disclosure. The findings suggest there is a considerable increase in the number of carbon-related disclosures following these regulations being enacted as law. In addition, carbon-specific communication has become much more prevalent and accounts for a larger proportion of the sampled organisations’ reported environmental information. The results of this study enrich the validity of the hypothesis that organisations would seek to legitimise their operations to stakeholders by increasing their environment-related declarations. The evidence presented in the analysis confirms the assertion that government environmental legislation/regulation has a positive impact on corporate behaviour and accountability. These findings have significant consequences for the government, decision-makers and the accounting profession, indicating that regulatory guidance enhances both mandatory and voluntary disclosure. It also offers key insights into the possible impacts of the carbon regulatory change for future research to consider.

Impact of stakeholder pressure on the adoption of carbon management strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1189-1212
Author(s):  
Somaiya Yunus ◽  
Evangeline O. Elijido-Ten ◽  
Subhash Abhayawansa
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Carbon Management ◽  
Thomson Reuters ◽  
Innovation Strategies ◽  
The Government

Purpose This paper aims to examine whether the perceived pressures from stakeholders with high potential to cooperate and/or threaten the firm’s survival affect the decision to adopt carbon management strategies (CMSs). Design/methodology/approach A logistic panel regression model is estimated using longitudinal data from Australia’s Top-200 listed firms over seven years from 2009 to 2015. The authors test the firm’s propensity to adopt CMSs conditioned on the influence of four groups of stakeholders: the regulators, institutional investors, media and creditors. Data on CMSs adopted by firms are sourced from Thomson Reuters ASSET4 database, the Carbon Disclosure Project survey, annual reports, company websites and sustainability reports. Findings The authors show that stakeholder pressures are associated not only with the adoption or non-adoption of CMSs but also with the type of CMSs adopted. Three types of CMSs are identified, namely, compensation, reduction and innovation strategies. The findings reveal that CMS adoption and the firms’ propensity to adopt compensation and reduction strategies are significantly related to perceived pressures from the regulators, media and creditors. While pressure from the regulators is also associated with the firms’ propensity to adopt innovation strategies, a more advanced type of CMSs, the potential pressure from the media and creditors are not significantly related. Practical implications The findings imply that a firm’s adoption of CMSs is not merely about managing stakeholders in the regulatory sphere but also about taking into account the perceived pressures from non-regulatory stakeholders and the context-dependent nature of their influences. The authors show that by influencing the voluntary disclosure of carbon emissions, the government continues to be effective in encouraging firms to take action on climate change despite the abolition of the carbon tax in Australia. Social implications This study highlights that, apart from a heavy-handed approach, regulators can adopt softer forms of regulation such as the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Act and a less invasive, stakeholder-driven approach to encourage firms to adopt CMSs and thereby work towards climate change mitigation. Originality/value This study extends the literature by showing that perceived pressure from some stakeholders found to be influential in relation to some corporate decisions (such as environmental strategy adoption and climate-change-related disclosure) may not necessarily be influential in relation to CMS adoption.

Insider Trading Laws and Corporate Governance Impact on Investment Decision

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-137
Author(s):  
Sadaf Khan ◽  
Ubaid Ur Rehman
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Insider Trading ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Good Corporate Governance ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

This research aims to analyze the impact of insider trading laws and corporate governance on investment decisions. For this purpose, the data of 400 potential and actual investors employed who provided their feedback on a structured questionnaire. When the data is collected, it was cleaned. The normality of data and reliability of items were also checked and within limits. Simple Regression was applied to test hypotheses. It was concluded that the perception of insider trading laws and corporate governance have a positive impact on investment decisions. The study has wide implications and the government and corporation both can be beneficial from its insight and findings, and exercise good corporate governance practices and follow stringent insider trading laws. The study also paves the way for future research.

Isn’t There a Better Way? (No, There Isn’t)

2019 ◽  
pp. 53-72
Author(s):  
Gilbert E. Metcalf
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Energy State ◽  
State Level ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Corporate Average Fuel Economy ◽  
Renewable Portfolio Standards ◽  
Voluntary Programs ◽  
History Of ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Alternative Approaches

This chapter reviews alternative approaches to putting a price on pollution to control greenhouse gas emissions. It reviews the history of the Clean Air Act and Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and demonstrates that these policies cut pollution at a much higher cost than by simply putting a price on pollution. It also reviews subsidies for clean energy, state-level renewable portfolio standards, and information and voluntary programs and demonstrates that a carbon tax is superior to any of these alternatives.

The Kalanga in Historical Perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thembani Dube
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government

The Kalanga are one of the ethnic groups found mostly in the Bulilima and Mangwe districts, in the southwestern parts of Zimbabwe. Although the origins of the Kalanga date back to a thousand years, it is important to note that Kalanga ethnic identity is a socially constructed phenomenon, which continues to be negotiated. Therefore, it is vital to note that dynamism, flexibility, and malleable are some of the attributes of this identity. As such, Kalanga history and identity, which has been a product of various processes, such as precolonial political and social organization, colonial rule and the postcolonial Zimbabwean state, will be sought after. Central to these processes are actors such as Kalanga chiefs, missionaries, colonial administrators, Kalanga elites, women, and the ordinary people, who played a significant role in shaping and articulating Kalanga identity at different historical epochs. Moreover, markers of Kalanga identity such as language, Ngwali/Mwali religion, chieftaincy, and histories of origin have been used to (re)construct Kalanga identity. Nonetheless, the heterogeneity of Kalanga people and the complexity involved in the intricate processes of identity formation will be acknowledged. In postcolonial Zimbabwe there has been rising interest from Kalanga elites who have lobbied the government to recognize the Kalanga. This activism is inspired by perceived marginalization of the Kalanga and other minority groups, which has been enforced through monolithic linguistic policies, orchestrated through government favoritism toward the so-called majority languages, such as Shona and IsiNdebele. However, the interaction and cordial relations among the Kalanga and other ethnic groups found in Zimbabwe will also be acknowledged. Nonetheless, there is no exhaustive account of this group as scholars continue to engage with them, hence contributing to always expand the different interpretations on these people. It is therefore hoped that the history of this particular group will be chronicled and perhaps directions for future research on the Kalanga pointed out. In order to fully explore this historical account, various sources that have been used in the study of Kalanga history will be critically engaged.

Internal control quality and voluntary disclosure: does CEO duality matter?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hichem Khlif ◽  
Khaled Samaha ◽  
Ines Amara
Keyword(s):  
Internal Control ◽  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Structural Power ◽  
Ceo Duality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Reporting ◽  
Control Quality

PurposeThe authors examine the association between internal control quality (ICQ) and voluntary disclosure and test whether chief executive officer (CEO) duality, as a proxy for CEO structural power, moderates such a relationship in an emerging market (Egypt).Design/methodology/approachICQ is measured using a survey of external auditors, while a content analysis approach is used to measure the level of voluntary disclosure in annual reports.FindingsBased on a sample of 512 firm-year observations over the period of 2007–2014, the authors document that ICQ is positively and significantly associated with voluntary disclosure, suggesting that better controls improve corporate reporting policy. In addition, CEO duality moderates the association between ICQ and voluntary disclosure since this positive relationship association becomes insignificant for companies characterised by CEO duality. These results remain stable after controlling for endogeneity (self-selection problem), political instability and industry characteristics.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of the study provide preliminary evidence on the association between ICQ and voluntary disclosure, and how CEO structural power may affect this association. Future empirical investigations may extend this work to cover the relationship between ICQ and other attributes of corporate transparency including earnings quality and accounting conservatism.Practical implicationsThe findings highlight the need for Egyptian regulators to enact new rules obliging firms to communicate information about ICQ or charging auditors to report information about firm's ICQ in their reports. The results also alert policymakers about the adverse effect of combined leadership structure (CEO duality) since it mitigates the positive impact of ICQ on voluntary disclosure.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to internal control literature by exploring the association between ICQ and voluntary disclosure on an emergent unregulated market with respect to internal control disclosure. They also highlight how CEO duality, as a proxy for CEO power, mitigates the beneficial effect of ICQ on corporate reporting policy on the Egyptian stock exchange (EGX).

The impact of the Carbon Tax regime on the petroleum and gas industries

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Doug Young
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Unit Price ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Reporting Scheme ◽  
Fixed Price ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

The Clean Energy Act (CEA) and its related legislation received royal assent on 18 November 2011, ushering in a new era for the Australian industry, and for those who deal with it. Building on the 2007 National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme (NGERS), which mandates the measurement and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and electricity production and consumption, the CEA imposes direct obligations on: individual industrial operations (facilities) that emit more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, or its other equivalent greenhouse gases, from particular sources, in a year; suppliers of natural gas (at the point of last supply before the gas is burnt or otherwise used), for the emissions that will be generated when the gas is burnt; and, operators of land-fill facilities, such as local councils. While the primary emissions targeted by the scheme are produced by burning fossil fuels, they also include emissions such as the methane released when coal is mined. The obligations include the option of surrendering carbon units for each tonne of emissions, however, if this optional step is not performed, the mandatory payment of a tax, which far exceeds the cost of a unit, is enforced. The Australian Government will sell carbon units at a fixed price for the first three years, starting at $23, after which units will be auctioned for between $15 and the expected international unit price, plus $20. The supply of domestic units will be unlimited for the three fixed price years, but will be subject to a reducing cap in following years, consistent with the Government policy of reducing Australia’s emissions. The Government has created a monopoly for the supply of units for the first three years by prohibiting the use of overseas-sourced carbon units, and by only allowing 5% of the unit surrender requirements to be comprised of Australian generated carbon credits. Thereafter, for the first five of the flexible-charge years, only half the units can be sourced from overseas, with any apparent saving likely to be offset by the various taxes and charges applicable to the use of those units. Certain fuels will also be separately taxed. Entities, however, which acquire, manufacture or import fuels and would otherwise be entitled to a fuel tax credit, may be able to assume direct liability thus enabling them to acquire or manufacture fuel, free of the carbon tax component. Where the imposts will cause competitive disadvantage to industries that compete with entities from other countries that do not have similar imposts, some assistance is provided in the form of allocated units provided at no charge. Assistance is also available to coal-fired electricity generators, producers of liquefied natural gas, operators of gassy coal mines, and the steel industry (not discussed in this paper). This paper also explains, in detail, how liability is created, how to determine which entities are liable, the means of assigning liability to other entities, and the assistance available to various industries to help deal with the financial impact of the scheme on their operations. It also outlines the key concepts that underpin the scheme.

Government and innovation performance: evidence from the ICT enterprising community

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Herolinda Murati-Leka ◽  
Besnik Fetai
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Innovation Performance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Innovation Ecosystem ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ict Companies

Purpose The purpose of this paper will be on finding and analyzing the impact of government on the information and communication technology (ICT) companies’ innovation performance. The study aims to conduct in-depth research about the government as an integrated actor of the innovation ecosystem (IE), not a sole member. This would be the core finding toward doing further research about the impact of the innovation ecosystem in the ICT sector in Kosovo. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative research has been considered the most suitable data collection method. Furthermore, in this study, it is used convenience sampling as a technique of the sampling process. The sample size of this study is 106 participants. The participants are owners or representatives of ICT companies in Kosovo. Since the study is conducted using the deductive approach, the questionnaire is considered to be the most suitable instrument for gathering data. Findings This paper provides empirical insights that the company’s size and the dedicated department for research and development have no impact on how the company takes advantage of public funding from the government. Furthermore, the authors of the paper found out that government has a positive impact on companies’ introduction of new products and services, while the impact of the government on a company’s financial performance was insignificant. Research limitations/implications The future research direction should be firstly on studying other IE actors and their impact on companies’ innovation performance and secondly on measuring the IE actors as a set of actors to have a broader picture on how IE impacts the companies’ innovation performance. Practical implications The scientific contribution of this study will be on mapping, analyzing and proposing government policies in accordance with the findings of this study that would lead to a more comprehensive and sustainable IE in Kosovo. Originality/value This study tries to fulfill an identified need to study the impact of interconnected actors of an innovation ecosystem and to show how they affect each other. In this study, it is taken for research one fragment of a set of actors.

Reporting on the museum: the annual reports of the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. N. SWINNEY
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Science And Art ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government

The production, in the latter half of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century, of the annual reports of the government-funded museum in Edinburgh in several different formats has led to problems in citing these documents in bibliographies. A brief history of the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art and its method of accountability from its foundation in 1854 to 1905 (the period during which it was administered by the Department of Science and Art and the years immediately following the handover to the Committee of the Council on Education in Scotland) is presented along with a concordance table for the different forms of the reports.

Corporate social responsibility disclosures in Malaysia: evidence from large companies

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelkader Sadou ◽  
Fardous Alom ◽  
Hayatullah Laluddin
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Government Ownership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is any improvement in the extent and quality of corporate social responsibility disclosures (CSRD) in Malaysia between 2011 and 2014 and to determine the factors that influence the extent and quality of CSRD in these two years. Also, this study examines the methods of disclosures and the items that largest Malaysian companies addressed. Design/methodology/approach A self-constructed CSR is utilised to measure the extent and quality of CSRD in the annual reports of the top 71 Malaysian companies listed in Bursa Malaysia for the years 2011 and 2014. Multiple regressions along with their associated toolkits for data verification and diagnostic tests are used to assess the improvement in CSRD between 2011 and 2014 and the factors that affect CSRD. Findings Results show a slight increase in the extent and quality of CSRD between 2011 and 2014. With regards to the factors influencing CSRD, only awards are found to be significant in determining the extent and quality of CSRD either in 2011 or in 2014. Board size, ownership concentration, independent non-executives and return on assets influence both the extent and quality of CSRD in 2011. Director ownership and firm size determine the extent and quality of CSRD in 2014. Government ownership only influences the extent of CSRD in 2011. Research limitations/implications Some traditional limitations are found to be considered in future research, such as the use of annual reports as the only source of CSRD information. Results support the legitimacy theory that assumes that Malaysian companies disclose CSR information as a reflection of the incidents that happen in that environment of the firm without ignoring the role of the government in pushing those companies towards being socially responsible by issuing regulations, or in motivating those companies by introducing awards and giving fiscal facilities. Practical implications The results help the policymakers to introduce more awards in some domains that were less addressed by Malaysian companies and also to examine the causes behind the non-influence of the new Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG 2012) on CSRD. Originality/value The study can be considered as one of the limited empirical studies that assess the changes in CSRD before and after the issuance of MCCG 2012 in Malaysia.

scholarly journals Pengungkapan Sukarela Berdasarkan Karakteristik Perusahaan dan Kepemilikan Institusional

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Dadang Suhendar ◽  
Dani Rahman Hakim
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Institutional Ownership ◽  
The Other ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Firm Characteristics ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Government

Abstract This study analyses the effect's degree of firm characteristics and institutional ownership on voluntary disclosure. Firm characteristics in this study are measured based on size and leverage. This study's panel data are from financial reports of 23 companies in the consumer goods industry listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the 2014 to 2018 reporting period. By using panel data regression analysis, this study finds that company size does not affect voluntary disclosure. On the other hand, leverage positively affects voluntary disclosure, while institutional ownership has a negative effect. This study implies that voluntary disclosure is more determined by the need to win the competition and rationalize investors regarding their leverage. The company's size does not determine the voluntary disclosure level. The government needs to encourage the companies to reveal more information for better market within the pandemic through the Financial Services Authority. On the other hand, institutional ownership that has a negative effect on voluntary corporate disclosure shows that investors from other institutions tend not to have healthy controls in encouraging companies to make voluntary disclosures. Future research is expected to reexamine corporate voluntary disclosure determinants through other variables and use more than one method to ensure their robustness results. Keywords: Firm Characteristic; Institutional Ownership; Voluntary Disclosure AbstrakPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis besarnya pengaruh karakteristik dan kepemilikan institusional terhadap pengungkapan sukarela yang dilakukan perusahaan. Karakteristik perusahaan dalam penelitian ini diukur berdasarkan ukuran dan leverage. Data dalam penelitian ini yakni laporan keuangan dari 23 perusahaan sektor industri barang konsumsi yang terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia periode laporan 2014 hingga 2018. Dengan menggunakan analisis regresi data panel, penelitian ini menemukan bahwa ukuran perusahaan tidak mempengaruhi pengungkapan sukarela. Di sisi lain, leverage berpengaruh positif terhadap pengungkapan sukarela, sedangkan kepemilikan institusional berpengaruh negatif. Implikasi penelitian ini adalah bahwa pengungkapan sukarela lebih ditentukan oleh kebutuhan untuk memenangkan persaingan serta keperluan memberikan rasionalisasi terhadap para investor terkait besarnya leverage yang dimiliki. Besar kecilnya ukuran perusahaan tidak menentukan tingkat pengungkapan sukarela sehingga pemerintah melalui OJK perlu mendorong pengungkapan sukarela perusahaan. Di sisi lain, kepemilikan institusional yang justru berpengaruh negatif terhadap pengungkapan sukarela menunjukan investor dari institusi lain cenderung belum memiliki pengendalian yang kuat dalam mendorong perusahaan agar melakukan pengungkapan sukarela. Penelitian selanjutnya diharapkan dapat menelaah kembali determinan pengungkapan sukarela melalui variabel-variabel lain serta menggunakan lebih dari satu metode untuk memastikan hasil yang robust. Kata Kunci: Karakteristik Perusahaan; Kepemilikan Institusional; Pengungkapan Sukarela

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