This study departs from existing work on board gender diversity (BGD) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting by analyzing and explaining the mechanism by which gender-diverse boards in politically embedded firms (PEFs) affect firms’ CSR reporting choices in a unique institutional setting of Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2018. The following main results are obtained. First, having female directors and executives with political connections (PCs) on corporate boards improves the CSR reporting of firms. Firms with PCs have a greater possibility to issue CSR reports than their non-connected counterparts. Second, firms that have both gender diversity and PCs on their boards of directors are more likely to engage in CSR reporting. There is an indication that the presence of PCs on boards can strengthen the effect of female directors on firms’ CSR reporting. Third, the presence of female directors on corporate boards has a stronger relationship with CSR reporting in PEFs than in non-PEFs. The study concludes that both BGD and PCs on corporate boards positively influence the diffusion of CSR-related practices in the Chinese business environment.

Purpose The literature on the influence of audit committees (ACs) and cosmetic accounting (CSA) is scarce. This paper aims to examine the influence of AC attributes on CSA and how this relationship is moderated by the audit price (AUPR). Design/methodology/approach The study used pooled logistic regressions to analyse 624 firm-year observations of listed companies in Nigeria from 2008 to 2016. Findings The results show that AC financial accounting expertise, AC legal expertise and female AC membership were negatively related to CSA. The negative relationship is highly pronounced when a firm incurs higher audit fees. Results for the robustness checks were similar, even with changes to the measurements of dependent and independent variables and alternative estimation. Practical implications This study can benefit policymakers and regulators, enabling them to better appreciate the importance of AC attributes and AUPR in curtailing artificial manipulation and enhancing financial reporting quality. Social implications This study can benefit policymakers and regulators, enabling them to better appreciate the importance of AC attributes and AUPR in curtailing artificial manipulation and enhancing financial reporting quality. Originality/value The findings provide an initial insight into the moderating effect of AUPR on the relationship between AC attributes and CSA.

This paper examines the relationship between audit fees and financial reporting quality of listed firms in Nigeria. We use 88 listed companies in Nigeria for the period of 2012 to 2016. The data were obtained from the annual reports of the listed firms and Thompson Reuters DataStream. Accruals model was used to represent financial reporting quality. A multiple regression was employed in the estimation model. The study reveals that higher audit fees are associated to lower level of discretionary accruals and thus imply higher financial reporting quality. The result also supports the resource dependence theory which proposes that higher percentage of financial experts in the board lessen the degree of accounting manipulation. The study provides an understanding to investors, policymakers and regulators about the pivotal role of audit fees in reducing accounting manipulation and in enhancing financial reporting quality in the listed firms in Nigeria.

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