Earnings management and investor protection during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from G-12 countries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the inter-relations among the strength of investor protection institutions, earnings management (EM) and the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach As a proxy for EM, the authors use discretionary accruals measure, estimated using the modified Jones model (1991). As a proxy for the strength of investor protection institutions, the study uses the Investor Protection Index, extracted from the Global Competitiveness Reports. The sample consists of 5,519 firms listed in the Group of Twelve countries during 2015–2020. Findings The study shows that firms tend to engage less in EM during the pandemic period. The authors also find a significantly negative relation between the strength of investor protection institutions and EM practices, and interestingly, this negative relation was found to be more pronounced during the pandemic period. Research limitations/implications For investors and practitioners, the findings help get insights into the behavior of firms in response of the pandemic shock in countries with solid institutional and legal protection. For policymakers, the findings reaffirm the critical role that institutional incentives and reforms can play, in influencing firms to exert more efforts to promote their financial reporting quality. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, the study is one of the first attempts to examine the link between EM practices and investor protection during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings extend both the literature on the role of institutional factors in promoting the earnings quality and the literature on COVID-19’s effect on firm performance and practices.

Outcome reporting in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the pharmacological management of idiopathic overactive bladder (OAB) in women; a systematic review for the development of core outcome sets (COS)

Introduction and hypothesis Evidence on OAB management remains suboptimal and methodological limitations in randomized control trials (RCTs) affect their comparability. High quality meta-analyses are lacking. This study aimed to compare selection and reporting of outcomes and outcome measures across RCTs as well as evaluate methodological quality and outcome reporting quality as a first stage in the process of developing core outcome sets (COS). Methods RCTs were searched using Pubmed, EMBASE, Medline, Cochrane, ICTRP and Clinicaltrials.gov from inception to January 2020, in English language, on adult women. Pharmacological management, interventions, sample size, journal type and commercial funding were documented. Methodological and outcome reporting quality were evaluated using JADAD and MOMENT scores. Results Thirty-eight trials (18,316 women) were included. Sixty-nine outcomes were reported, using 62 outcome measures. The most commonly reported outcome domains were efficacy (86.8%), safety (73.7%) and QoL (60.5%). The most commonly reported outcomes in each domain were urgency urinary incontinence episodes (UUI) (52.6%), antimuscarinic side effects (76.3%) and change in validated questionnaire scores (36.8%). A statistically significant correlation was found between JADAD and MOMENT (Spearman’s rho = 0.548, p < 0.05) scores. This indicates that higher methodological quality is associated with higher outcome reporting quality. Conclusions Development of COS and core outcome measure sets will address variations and lead to higher quality evidence. We recommend the most commonly reported outcomes in each domain, as interim COS. For efficacy we recommend: UUI episodes, urgency and nocturia episodes; for safety: antimuscarinic adverse events, other adverse events and discontinuation rates; for QoL: OAB-q, PPBC and IIQ scores.

The non-financial reporting practices of Hungarian listed public interest entities considering the 2014/95/EU Directive

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the non-financial reporting (NFR) practices of Hungarian listed public interest entities for 2016–2018 in terms of the required disclosure content based on the 2014/95/EU Directive (ED).Design/methodology/approach The authors apply content analysis methodology on Hungarian firms subject to mandatory reporting under the ED. The target variable in the multivariate model is the reporting quality (Qi) measured by a combined index.Findings The authors find that the ED had a moderate impact on Hungary's reporting quality because the overall disclosure of the sample only increased from low to medium level. The authors found that the value of intangible assets is a determinant of the reporting quality before and after the implementation of the ED. The findings support the effect of coercive isomorphism on Hungarian NFR practices.Research limitations/implications The limitation of the research is the number of firms examined. However, the authors covered the entire (non-bank) community of the Hungarian firms subject to the ED.Practical implications The authors suggest that reporting entities build upon the synergy between intellectual capital disclosure and NFR when elaborating their reporting strategies. The authors recommend the integration of ethical matters into corporate strategies and policies. Policymakers may consider the revision of the Hungarian regulations. The authors suggest academics embrace these topics in teaching.Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the impact of ED in the context of Hungary. The authors contribute to the existing literature by adding the results of the ridge regression model, highlighting the importance of intangible assets.

The Relationsip Between Corporate Social Responsibility Through Financial Reporting Quality

This study aims to examine the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Quality of Financial Reporting in manufacturing companies in Indonesia. The research sample consisted of 75 manufacturing companies that were observed from 2017 to 2019. This study uses a regression data panel to test the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which is calculated by using a dummy variable on the Quality of Financial Reporting (FRQ) which uses a measure consisting of value relevance (VR), acrual quality (AQ) and earning persistence (EP). The results of research on manufacturing companies in Indonesia indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and value relevance. The results of research on manufacturing companies in Indonesia indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and accrual quality. The results of research on manufacturing companies in Indonesia show that there is a positive and significant relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and earning persistence.

Sustainable Energy Development, Financial Reporting And Its Attachment To Corporate Social Responsibility

This study intends to examine the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Quality of Financial Reporting and Sustainable Energy Development in manufacturing companies in Indonesia. The research sample has it amounts of 75 manufacturing companies starting from 2017 to 2019. This study uses a regression data panel to examine the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility which is calculated with a dummy variable on the Quality of Financial Reporting. The research results on manufacturing companies in Indonesia show that there is a positive and significant relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Reporting Quality and Sustainable Energy Development. The results of this study are expected to benefit practitioners in the operational focus of CSR, which is associated with the quality of financial reporting and does not abandon its energy sustainability development. Furthermore, the results of this study can be used as the basis for forming policies related to sustainable business issues and having a good impact on the environment and the finances of a company.

How Reliable and Valid are the Evaluations of Digital Competence in Higher Education: A Systematic Mapping Study

Evaluating digital competencies has become a topic of growing interest in recent years. Although several reviews and studies have summarized the main elements of progress and shortcomings in this area, some issues are yet to be explored. Very little information is available about the ways of ensuring the validity and reliability of the instrument used. This study addresses this issue through systematic mapping covering the period from January 2015 to July 2020. Based on 88 primary studies, we conclude that a growing number of studies have emerged over the years; most of them are based on European university students in social science programs; the quality of the journals where they were published is low; and the instruments used are mostly questionnaires and ad-hoc surveys that measure the various dimensions of digital competence based on participants’ perceptions. Out of the eight possible types of quality assessment, studies commonly report only four (one in the case of reliability and three in the case of validity). More than 50% of the studies do not provide evidence of having assessed the reliability and validity at the same time. Although participant discipline resulted in a significantly association with the practice of reporting reliability and validity assessments, no specific dimension explained such association. A non-parametric multivariate analysis reveals, among other interesting patterns, that the practice of not reporting quality assessments is more present in studies where participants belong to the fields of Engineering and Technology, Health Sciences, and Humanities.