Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of value added (VA) as an indicator of intellectual capital (IC), and its impact on the firm's economic, financial and stock market performance. Design/methodology/approach -The value added intellectual coefficient (VAICe) method is used on 300 UK companies divided into three groups of industries: high-tech, traditional and services. Data require to calculate VAICe method are obtained from the "Value Added Scoreboard" provided by the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Empirical analysis is conducted using correlation and linear multiple regression analysis. Findings -The results show that companies' IC has a positive impact on economic and financial performance. However, the association between IC and stock market performance is only significant for high-tech industries. The results also indicate that capital employed remains a major determinant of financial and stock market performance although it has a negative impact on economic performance. Practical implications -The VAICe method could be an important tool for many decision makers to integrate IC in their decision process. Originality/value -This is the first research which has used the data on VA recently calculated and published by the UK DTI in the "Value Added Scoreboard". This paper constitutes therefore a kind of validation of the ministry data.

The objective of this paper is to examine the effect of companies' political connections on their financial and stock performance, as well as on their market values. Design/methodology/approach-A sample of non-financial companies listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange (TSE) between 2012 and 2014 was used. The accounting and financial data of these companies were obtained from their financial statements, whereas data on political connections of their officers and directors were collected manually from various sources. Correlation and multivariate regression analyses were performed to test the hypothesis of this research. Findings-The results showed that political connections improve companies' performance and value. These results could be explained, on the one hand, by the benefits and favours that companies can get from their political ties and, on the other hand, by investors' tendency to invest in politically connected companies to benefit from these advantages. Research limitations/implications-The limited number of non-financial companies listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange (TSE) is a limit for this research. Practical implications-Our results show that investment in companies which are politically interconnected may be beneficial for investors, and especially for small minority shareholders. Social implications-Our results confirm that political links are essential for business success in emerging economies, such as Tunisia. However, the positive link between politics and business might highlight the issue of corruption after the revolution. Originality/value-To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effect of political connections on the performance and value of Tunisian companies after the 2011 revolution.

a b s t r a c tIntangible investments have become the main value creators for many companies and economic sectors. However, these investments are rarely recognized as assets by current accounting standards. We provide a critical review of the literature on the consequences of this lack of accounting recognition of intangibles for the value-relevance of financial information, resource allocation in the capital market, growth of intangible investments, and the firm's market value. We then review recent empirical research on voluntary disclosure of information on intangibles. Our survey concludes that disclosure can considered as a solution to the negative consequences of non-recognition of intangibles in financial statements.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relation between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cost of debt and to estimate the cost that lenders are imputing to GHG emissions. Data on GHG emissions were hand‐collected from Carbon Disclosure Project reports, whereas data on the cost of debt and other financial data were obtained from Bloomberg Professional database. Using a sample of Canadian firms, the results show that GHG emissions increase firms' cost of debt. In other words, for each additional tonne of GHG emissions, the cost of debt increases on average by 11–15%. These results imply that creditors incorporate firms' GHG emissions into their lending decisions and they penalize the polluting firms. This could encourage firms to reduce and manage their GHG emissions because there is a cost associated with these emissions. This study is one of the first to examine the relationship between GHG emissions and the cost of debt.