Hannu Schadewitz

Today’s organizations face unprecedented challenges related to societal and environmental matters. The long-term trends related to climate change are expected to generate instability in the credit market and negatively affect organizational performance. Organizations can mitigate these issues and better grasp different trends by having a diverse board (i.e., board members of different genders, ages, qualifications and nationalities). However, that same diversity may also create conflicts and worsen strategic decision-making. Grounded on stakeholder theory, this study investigates the impact of board diversity on bank performance, assuming that board diversity also shapes environmental, social, and governance (ESG) engagement, which is linked to financial performance. Our data comprises a sample of public commercial banks located in OECD countries. The results suggest that board diversity (as a bundle of different traits and characteristics) contributes positively to performance. However, the impact measured by the means of accounting-based and market-based performance measures differs. In addition, we found that ESG investments adversely affect profitability ratios, but a more diverse board mitigates the possible detrimental effects of ESG expenses on company returns. By helping to illuminate the short- and long-term effects of board diversity on bank performance, the results hold value for regulators, policymakers, supervisory authorities, banks, and managers.

Purpose: This study investigates the impact of audit reports’ readability on informational efficiency within the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), emphasizing challenges in an emerging market context characterized by voluntary IFRS adoption and the absence of Big 4 audit firms.Design/methodology/approach: By utilizing hand-collected data from TSE-listed companies, covering 1,097 firm-year observations from 2012 to 2023, readability is assessed using three well-established indexes (Fog, Flesch–Kincaid and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook). Informational efficiency is evaluated by analyzing how stock prices align with a random walk pattern, with additional control variables including governance factors, auditor characteristics and firm-specific indicators to enhance model robustness.Findings: The findings indicate a positive association between audit report readability and informational efficiency, suggesting that clearer and more readable audit reports help reduce information asymmetry. Control variables such as board independence and auditor tenure showed significant impacts, supporting the conclusion that governance and auditor-specific factors enhanced informational efficiency. Agency and institutional theories are used to contextualize these findings, especially within TSE’s unique regulatory environment. The study addresses endogeneity with firm fixed effects and sample selection bias through Heckman’s two-stage procedure. The absence of Big 4 auditors in Iran prompted controls for auditor size effects, supporting our findings across different audit market segments.Research limitations/implications: Limitations include potential omitted variable bias and challenges in generalizing findings beyond the TSE. Despite applying firm fixed effects and Heckman’s two-stage procedure to control for endogeneity, some residual biases may remain.Practical implications: For regulators, auditors and investors, these findings underscore the value of promoting readability in audit reports to improve informational efficiency, particularly in emerging markets with evolving regulatory standards.Originality/value: By focusing on audit report readability within an emerging market lacking Big 4 presence, this study offers unique insights into how readability can foster transparency and investor confidence in regions with distinct market dynamics.

Purpose: This paper aims to examine whether variations in country-specific business integrity (BI) and firm-specific environmental, social and governance (ESG) dimensions can explain variations in earnings quality (EQ) in Northern and Southern EU civil law countries. Design/methodology/approach: Regarding EQ, the analysis builds on the “small gain, small loss” (SGSL) model of Burgstahler and Dichev (1997) and Burgstahler and Chuk (2015). The authors explain SGSL with the BI. Southern Europe or “Club Med” is typically associated with a less rigorous institutional regime than Northern Europe. Findings: Results evidenced higher EQ in the Northern EU compared with the Southern EU. Furthermore, EQ is explained successfully with the Business Integrity Index (BII) and ESG. The results suggest that BII and ESG represent different dimensions, and, therefore, both should be included in the models explaining EQ. Practical implications: The results show that the Northern EU civil law countries have higher EQ compared with the Southern EU civil law countries. The difference is explained by the BII variable. For the Southern EU, legislators and other public policy decision-makers should build up and apply tools to limit and fight corruption in those jurisdictions. The impactful elimination of corruption would, in turn, establish a firmer basis to foster ethical behavior and financial market sophistication developments. Originality/value: The study offers additional insights on the determinants of EQ in the EU civil law countries. The prior literature has argued that, categorically, in common law countries firms engage in higher-quality reporting than those in civil law countries. The results evidence that EQ varies within the EU civil law countries; that is, a country’s BI and firm-specific ESG contribute to the explanation for EQ. A more specific explanation for the reasons in the EQ “within” civil law jurisdictions could be related to legislators and other public policy decision-makers in charge of establishing regimes and public policies supporting high-quality accounting.

We study the relation between board gender diversity and goodwill (GW). GW on the balance sheet is connected to both the firm’s risk-taking and its accounting conservatism which are two popular topics in how gender diversity affects the governance of firms. GW captures the firm’s decision to acquire another business for a price exceeding the received identifiable net assets and the subsequent valuation of the purchase. We propose that board decisions affecting GW could depict information about board gender diversity and its potential effects. Specifically, we examine Nordic listed firms in the period 2009–2018, to determine whether and how female representation on the board of directors is linked to the GW change. Big GW increases are associated with risk-taking and GW write-downs are signs of conservative accounting. Thus, we hypothesize and evidence that firms with substantial GW increases (decreases) are associated with fewer (more) women on the board. These results provide insight on board composition and potentially also on good governance and their consequences for strategic decision-making. Our findings contribute to the board diversity literature in accounting and corporate governance.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is, first, to empirically examine whether the appointment of females (board gender diversity) to the corporate boards of UK financial institutions can improve firm value, and second, to examine whether having females on the boards of UK financial institutions can impact firm value during the pre-/post-global financial crisis periods.Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses secondary data obtained from DataStream covering 63 financial institutions over a period of 12 years. A number of additional statistical estimations, including random effects and fixed effects, are conducted to test the robustness of the findings.Findings: The outcome of this empirical research shows that the presence of females on the corporate boards of UK financial institutions has a positive and statistically significant relationship with firm value. The authors’ evidence reveals a positive and statistically significant impact on the firm’s value prior to the financial crisis, that is, during the pre-crisis period (2000-2006), meaning that women contributed significantly to the firm’s value. However, after the financial crisis, the presence of females on the board had no significant effect on the firm’s value. A reasonable explanation may be that, whilst the financial crisis was over in the period 2009-2011, the entire UK economy was still experiencing an economic downturn, and financial firms were no exception, irrespective of whether there was female representation on any corporate board. Overall, the findings are consistent with the prior studies.Practical implications: The results have practical implications for governments, policy-makers and regulatory authorities, by indicating the importance of women to corporate success.Originality/value: Despite several research projects on board gender diversity (BGD), this research is unique compared to the previous empirical studies, primarily because it is the first-time research of this nature is empirically ascertaining BGD and firm value in UK financial institutions, also during the pre-/post-financial crisis era. This paper contributes to the corporate governance literature by offering new insights on board diversity and firms’ value relationship. Overall, the results help fill any gaps on gender diversity and firm value in UK financial institutions.

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the impact of audit committee (AC) adoption on the financial value of financial institutions in the UK and also to examine the impact of the establishment of an AC on firm value during the pre/post-global financial crisis era. Design/methodology/approach: The paper embarks on a theoretical and empirical literature review on AC adoption and its impact on a firm’s financial value. The paper uses data from 63 financial institutions and covers a 12-year period. Findings: The empirical results indicate that the adoption of an AC by financial institutions has a positive and statistically significant impact on firm value. The results from the pre-crisis period also indicate that the adoption of an AC makes a positive and significant contribution to firm value. However, there is no impact on firm value during the post-crisis period. The results suggest that the entire UK economy experienced an economic downturn after the financial crisis (2009-2011), and financial firms were no exception. Research limitations/implications: This study helps to fill research gaps on the relationships between ACs and firm value as they exist in UK financial institutions. These findings are important for policymakers and regulators. Practical implications: This research will encourage firms to establish ACs. Social implications: This new finding about the importance of firms having an AC in place is important for policymakers and regulators. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to conduct an empirical study of the effect of AC adoption on UK financial institutions and firm value. Second, no single study has been conducted on the effects of AC adoption and its impact on either the pre- or post-financial crisis periods. This is the first paper to provide such empirical evidence.

Research Question/Issue: This study, in the taxonomy of Schiehll and Martins (2016), examines cross-national corporate governance, within their "legal" category. It rests on the understanding that to fully grasp corporate governance it is essential to understand the embedded institutions. The research question is; Does an increase in legal quality cause an associated increase in the quality of corporate governance in the form of financial reports to investors? If so, this supports the fundamental importance of legal systems to earnings quality. Reliable evidence on whether there is an association between legal quality and financial reporting quality would be an empirical association showing that where legal quality is higher, earnings quality is also higher, and conversely. Research Findings/Insights: The results show clearly that in 2005 and 2010, when adequate data are available for testing, earnings quality is poor; far more companies show small gains than small losses. A great deal of managerial discretion is exercised in arriving at accounting figures, since many amounts depend on forecasts of future events. A significant number of firms use that latitude to show positive earnings. As to patterns of earnings management among three clusters of countries, the small number of firms generally precludes strong statistically supported evidence of management within the clusters. Nevertheless, the whole is the sum of the parts, and the parts (clusters) indicate the clusters most responsible for the overall result. There is little evidence of small gains exceeding small losses in the Baltics, greater differences in the Visegrad countries, and big differences in southern Europe. Theoretical/Academic Implications: Based on both (a) the historical background of legal systems and (b) attitudes concerning legal quality measured at the same time as the earnings measures, the accounting results are consistent with the prediction of a strong legal culture driving effective corporate governance. Practitioner/Policy Implications: The results show that eastern firms, on aggregate, have yet to reach the level of their western counterparts. However, the differences do not seem highly significant, and indicate that convergence is close in this area. This, in turn, should guide and encourage legislators in their work.

Cumulative abnormal residuals (cars) show how markets adjust to published information. Theoretically, cars are assumed to display unit normal behavior. Despite its merits, car has proved to be a somewhat imprecise measure of market response to published information. In practice, cars exhibit considerable deviation from theoretical unit normal behavior. Three disparities between theory and practice can be pinpointed. These are car: (1) location, (2) shape, and (3) stability. In our previous work we have demonstrated that cars are often bimodally distributed. This finding shows one reason why it takes semistrong efficient markets some time to digest new information. Cars, for the time period during which markets analyze the new value determining data, are usually bimodally distributed. One mode of the distribution represents the impact of good news. The other peak is caused by bad news. The valley, between the two peaks, indicates the influence of neutral news. This paper analyzes the interim reports, which constitute the data for our previous related studies. This research identifies the type of new information that creates bimodal cars.