Similarly to what has happened in other countries, since the early 1990s Portuguese companies have developed corporate environmental reporting practices in response to internal and external factors. This paper is based on empirical research directed to both the study of environmental reporting practices developed by Portuguese companies and the identification of the factors that explain the extent to which these companies disclose environmental information. This study focuses on the environmental disclosures made in the annual reports by a sample of 109 large fi rms operating in Portugal during the period 2002-04. Using the content analysis technique we have developed an index in order to assess the presence of the environmental disclosures in companies' annual reports and their breadth. Based on the extant literature, several characteristics relating to fi rms' attributes were selected and their infl uence on the level of environmental disclosure was tested empirically. The selected explanatory variables were fi rm size, industry membership, profi tability, foreign ownership, quotation on the stock market and environmental certifi cation. The results reveal that, in spite of the fact that the level of environmental information disclosed during the period 2002-04 is low, the extent of environmental disclosure has increased as well as the number of Portuguese companies that disclose environmental information. Moreover, the fi rm size and the fact that a company is listed on the stock market are positively related to the extent of environmental disclosure. This study adds to the international research on environmental disclosure by providing empirical data from a country, Portugal, where empirical evidence is still relatively unknown, extending the scope of the current understanding of the environmental reporting practices.

Institutional investors show increasing interest in how companies align their corporate social responsibility strategies with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations (UN). The information disclosed in this regard is essential to know and monitor business contribution to the 2030 Agenda. In this paper, we analyze the influence that institutional investors have on the adoption of the disclosure strategy established by UN and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)—GRI‐SDG Compass. The results obtained for a sample of 989 international companies, which prepare their sustainability reports following the GRI guidelines, show that ownership by foreign investors, pension funds, and “other” investors boosts the relevance of the information disclosed in relation to the 2030 Agenda. On the contrary, government, financial institutions, and cross holdings have no impact on the information systems developed.

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Combining the postulates of the upper echelons theory and the economic theories of information disclosure, one might expect that the effect of chief executive officers' (CEOs') managerial ability on their firms' disclosure policies has both a direct and indirect nature. The latter would be associated with the mediating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance on the relationship between CEOs' ability and corporate transparency. Using a sample of 956 international firms over the period 2006–2014 (6,442 firm‐year observations), we examine the role that the CEO ability plays in determining the relevance of CSR disclosures and whether this role is mediated by CSR performance. By proposing several regression models, we document that more able CEOs are more willing to disclose comparable and useful CSR information that favours stakeholder engagement. This relationship is mediated by the impact that CEO's ability has over the implementation of sustainability strategies that improve CSR performance.

Este estudio investiga si algunos atributos de la calidad de auditoría son capaces de restringir la manipulación de resultados en un país en desarrollo, Jordania, cuyo contexto cultural, económico e institucional es muy diferente del contexto de los países analizados anteriormente. Se usó la regresión de mínimos cuadrados generalizada (GLS) para estudiar la asociación entre dos atributos de la calidad de auditoría (tamaño del auditor y honorarios de auditoría) y los ajustes por devengos discrecionales, como proxy de la manipulación de resultados, para una muestra de empresas industriales que cotizan en la Bolsa de valores de Amman durante el período 2012 - 2016. Los resultados son consistentes con la expectativa de que en los países emergentes la auditoría externa puede funcionar de manera diferente a la de los países anglosajones y de Europa occidental con respecto a su papel en la restricción de la manipulación de resultados e indican que, dado el entorno institucional en Jordania, el tamaño del auditor y los honorarios de auditoría no tienen un efecto significativo en la manipulación de resultados. Este estudio proporciona a los lectores información sobre si y cómo el entorno institucional influye en la relación entre la calidad de la auditoría y la manipulación de resultados. Además, presenta nueva evidencia sobre el efecto moderador del nivel de los honorarios de auditoría en su relación con la manipulación de resultados. Los resultados de este estudio podrían proporcionar información valiosa a los reguladores, tanto en Jordania como en otros países con un entorno económico e institucional similar, para prevenir las prácticas de manipulación de resultados. This study investigates whether some audit quality attributes are capable to restrict earnings management in a developing country, Jordan, whose cultural, economic and institutional context is very different from most previously analyzed countries’ context. Generalized least square regression (GLS) was used to study the association between two audit quality attributes (auditor size and audit fees) and discretionary accruals, as a proxy of earnings management, for a sample of industrial firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange during the period 2012 – 2016. The findings are consistent with the expectation that in emerging countries external audit can function differently from that in Anglo-Saxon and West-European countries with regard to its role in restricting earnings management and indicate that, given the institutional environment in Jordan, auditor size and audit fees have no significant effect on earnings management. This study provides readers with information about if and how the institutional setting influences the relationship between audit quality and earnings management. Furthermore, it presents new evidence regarding the moderating effect of the level of audit fees on their relation with earnings management. This study’s findings could provide valuable information to regulators and standards setters, both in Jordan and other countries with a similar economic and institutional environment, which can help in preventing earnings management practices.