Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of internet financial reporting (IFR) on companies’ performances as measured by three performance indicators, namely, stock price, stock returns and company value. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 139 non-financial companies listed in the Egyptian stock exchange is used and classified as 108 IFR companies and 31 non-IFR companies. To test the research hypotheses, an independent t-test and multiple linear regression analyses are used. Findings The results indicate that there are no significant differences between IFR companies and non-IFR companies for both stock price and stock return variables. Conversely, there is a significant difference between IFR companies and non-IFR companies in the company value variable. These results imply rejecting hypotheses H1 and H4 and accepting the hypothesis of H7 that the presence of IFR has an impact on company value. The multiple regression analyses results indicate a significant relation between the scope of IFR and stock price. Likewise, between the degree of IFR and company value. Both degree and scope of IFR have an insignificant impact on stock return, which infer that applying different performance measures can reveal different conclusions. Research limitations/implications This research is a snapshot of IFR limited to a cross-sectional study and could not study the longitudinal data of internet reporting. Second, Marston and Polei (2004) contend that “weights contain an element of subjectivity, which cannot be completely avoided in the composition of such a score” (p. 297) and a variation in the disclosure index can lead to a modification in the results (Kaur and Kaur, 2020). This research applied a weighted index to measure the degree of IFR, which may affect the results and may change it if other indexes are applied. Moreover, the scores of the degree and scope of information disclosure are assumed to be similar every year due to the lack of information regarding the variations in content and presentation in the companies’ websites. Finally, the absence of a complete data set and stock prices for some companies in the sample. Practical implications To enhance the quantity and quality of IFR could be implemented through setting regulations and standards to govern IFR practices companies in Egypt. Moreover, the trade-off of the requirement of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority for Egyptian companies make information available online and the secrecy culture profound in the Egyptian society (Ahmed et al., 2015) involve assigning a regulatory body for monitoring the IFR practices to ensure disseminating timely and accurate information that helps investors make rational decisions. Social implications The researchers recommend the suggestion to have an external assurance conducted by external auditors to enhance the accuracy and credibility of the IFR information. Originality/value Based on prior literature, no studies in Egypt compare between IFR companies and non-IFR companies concerning stock price and company value as measured by Tobin’s Q. Moreover, few research studies in Egypt covered the degree of IFR disclosure whilst not addressing the impact on the stock price. In addition, no prior study examined the scope of IFR disclosure in Egypt. Therefore, the research findings attribute to literature.

Nowadays, globalization, new economic challenges and innovations in information technologies (IT) influenced the role and domain of professional accountants. The current accreditation requirements and educational frameworks of the contemporary accounting profession emphasize the importance of broad 'generic skills'. This research aims to fill the gap in studying generic skills in Egypt by examining the importance of generic skills in accounting education. The research results are consistent with the International Education Standard IES 3 and several studies, and highlighted the importance of five factors: intellectual and communication, interpersonal, creative ability, organization, research and analytical skills. Moreover, it is recommended that universities in Egypt should reevaluate their accounting education process and establish strong links with professional accounting firms.

In present times, complexity in the business environment, and advanced technology has intensified the challenges for more management accounting information to meet global competition. Therefore, contemporary management accounting practices (CMAPs), which focus on financial and non-financial information, have emerged to support managers' decision-making processes. This research is aimed at examining the adoption, importance and barriers to the implementation of contemporary management accounting practices. To achieve its objectives, the research conducted a survey and collected data on forty MAPs. The methodology of the study relied on factor analysis to identify and group different variables into the main factors that contribute to MAPs. In terms of MAPs adoption, the results indicated 9 factors: fundamental traditional management accounting practices (TMAPs); control; world class manufacture (WCM); performance evaluation non-financial; budgeting for planning cash flows; contemporary decision support; traditional decision support; planning and capital budget practice. In terms of importance there are 10 factors; benchmarking practices; costing and decision support; fundamental TMAPs; traditional performance evaluation; control; contemporary performance evaluation; budget for planning day to day; WCM -MRP practice; product life cycle practice and performance evaluation -customer satisfaction. The main conclusion was that the relative adoption of TMAPs is higher than CMAPs. However, Egyptian companies are realizing the importance of large number of CMAPs. Moreover, the research revealed that the key barriers limiting the implementation of CMAPs were the length of time it took to change the societal values and practices, the high degree of uncertainty avoidance and the high cost implementing these advanced practices.

The capital structure decision is crucial for any company to maximize shareholders’ wealth and deal with its competitive environment. The research aims to examine the capital structure influence on company performance in Egypt. This research uses a sample of 168 Egyptian companies during 2012-2016 and applies panel data techniques. Eight hypotheses are proposed to test the influence of both the short-term debt and the long-term debt (as proxies of capital structure) on four performance measures (ROA, ROE, EPS, and Tobin’s Q) The research results indicate that short-term debt to assets significantly negatively affects all performance measures except for Tobin’s Q. Short-term debt to assets significantly positively affects the value of Tobin’s Q. On the other hand, the results show that long-term debt to assets affects significantly negatively return on assets but positively affects the return on equity. Therefore, the research concludes that the relevance of the capital structure theory to Egyptian companies’ behaviour is influenced by both debt and performance measures utilized.

In Egypt, an essential economic transformation program was started in prior years to enhance Egyptian economic progress and the liberalization of the Egyptian pound (EGP) exchange rate (International Monetary Fund [IMF], 2017). By the end of 2016, Egypt had an EGP flotation where significant changes took place in trading volumes, stock issuance, and interest rates (Central Bank of Egypt, 2018). One of the most vital decisions in any company is the capital structure decision. Therefore, this research strengthens the capital structure literature by investigating the influence of Egyptian pound flotation on capital structure determinants for the listed Egyptian companies during the period from 2014 to 2018, which is a research issue, not examined in Egypt before. A sample of 78 non-financial companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (ESX) over 5 years is used; the research examines the influence of a company’s profitability, tangibility, size, growth, liquidity, non-debt tax shields, and flotation on capital structure. Adopting panel data methodology, the findings indicate that the company’s profitability, tangibility, size, and liquidity are significant determinants of the capital structure of Egyptian companies whereas growth, non-debt tax shields, and flotation are insignificant. A weak influence of EGP flotation on determinants of capital structure and the variations before and after flotation is in the significance level of the determinants