Information governance: The role of information architecture for effective board performance

Among the growing demands in corporate governance is better decision-making. The best board dynamics and focus on substantive business issues do not ensure effective boards functioning. Better decision-making implies the availability of quality information in adequate amounts. Better information does not exist on its own, it is necessary to design adequate information architectures in order to gather such information for effective board decision-making. Relying on solid information sources fosters awareness and lies the grounds for a better information architecture, so directors can do their job in a more effective and efficient way. What, why, how and where questions shall be raised in order to reach such goals, and the pillars for such architecture shall be laid down, by means of an adequate information architecture. This text provides clarity and the main thinking behind such information architecture design, ending with a set of recommendations

Adoption of artificial intelligence technologies in German SMEs — Results from an empirical study

Artificial intelligence (AI) is globally regarded as one of the most important technologies of the future. Germany is not considered a pioneer in the field of AI in the international context, and the implementation of AI technologies is rather sluggish. As the German economy is mainly driven by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the implementation of AI in SMEs is the main success factor. This study discusses the implementation perspectives of AI in German SMEs based on an empirical study from the year 2020 among 283 companies

Could digital technologies help improving management accounting in pandemic times?

In the field of management accounting, there is an enormous backlog of demand from a scientific and practical point of view around the topic of implementing new technologies to increase efficiency and effectiveness. This applies not only, but especially to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which have fewer human and financial resources than large companies. This research-in-progress article discusses potentials and implementation obstacles of new technologies in management accounting on the basis of an empirical survey among German SMEs from the year 2020

Accountants’ perceptions of tax amnesty: A survey during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece

Although humanity has faced many plaques and epidemics from antiquity, the COVID-19 came as a tidal wave, overwhelming nations and governments. Restrictive measures, social distancing and ultimately lockdown and quarantine, emerged as a response to decelerate the spread of the disease and save human lives. These measures may have decreased COVID-19 cases, they had, however, an adverse impact on economic activity and stock markets (Ashraf, 2020). Research shows that the pandemic has already influenced the United States (the US), Germany, and Italy‘s stock markets more than the global financial crises (Shehzad, Xiaoxing, & Kazouz 2020)

A holistic perspective on data governance

Data governance sets the principles and rules organizations should follow for the effective use of data. Organizations also expect by means of adequate data governance the attainment of cost-effective and lower-risk operations. Despite data governance awareness in recent years, there is a lack of a holistic view of the organization’s data governance that could help both practitioners and researchers to have an overall map of the current situation and anticipate the further steps needed to raise its level of maturity. This exploratory research proposes a classification scheme for data architecture according to two orthogonal dimensions: the perspective of stakeholders (from corporate board to end-users) as well as the primitives that contribute to better data governance. The proposed scheme, evolved from enterprise architecture research, is in line with other solutions aimed at aligning the business and IT within organisations

Insider trading on the German capital market — Can insiders achieve excess returns through their information advantage?

This study investigates whether corporate insiders can generate excess returns on the German capital market due to their information advantage. This is done with the help of an event study based on a market model that estimates the expected returns. Furthermore, the effect size of individual aspects is examined in a multiple regression. It is shown that insiders can achieve short-term excess returns of up to 2.1% after purchases and of up to -2.95% after sales. Moreover, these are strikingly high for, relative to market capitalization, transactions of smaller firms and transactions of other executives. The greatest influence on the excess return of a transaction is the market capitalization of the company in the case of buy transactions, while the excess return of sell transactions is largely determined by the share of trading volume in the outstanding shares. An imitation of insider transactions by outsiders may allow for excess returns, but this strongly depends on the share to be traded due to the bid-ask spread as well as the trading commissions. Despite the existence of regulation, it is evident that insiders can achieve significant excess returns, presumably on the basis of non-public information

From pillars to new horizons in corporate governance research

This international online conference ― Corporate Governance: A Search for Emerging Trends in the Pandemic Times held by the team and international scholarly network of Virtus Global Center for Corporate Governance is an excellent platform to present, discuss and share the most recent ideas in the corporate governance research. This conference is the third scholarly online forum held by the team of Virtus GCCR since May 2020. There are more than 20 accepted presentations from scholars from various countries of the world. Such sort of joint efforts of scholars is a bridge to the new horizons in corporate governance research, especially in the time of the pandemic