This research investigates the perceptions of stakeholders involved in financial reporting in four emerging economies (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Turkey) regarding the possible implementation of IFRS for SMEs, in terms of costs, benefits, and strategy of adoption. In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with representatives of main stakeholders (preparers, auditors, regulators, professional bodies, and users). We find more support for IFRS for SMEs implementation in these four countries than suggested by the results of the European Commission's consultation for the European Union. Interviews reveal differences between stakeholder groups and between countries regarding the preferred implementation approach (mandatory adoption, voluntary adoption or convergence of national regulations with IFRS for SMEs). Interviews indicate the most support for the convergence approach. However, users oppose convergence and prefer the adoption of IFRS for SMEs. The convergence approach moves regulators' attention from users' needs to preparers' preferences and preparedness. This finding is relevant in the decision‐making process of national regulators, who should balance the needs of various stakeholders, but also the country's political and economic objectives.

Despite the fact that obligations to publish reports on corporate social responsibility will come into force in the European Union from 2018, an increasing number of companies are starting to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy into their everyday business practices, and as a result the information of this activity is disclosed in CSR reports or within annual reports. As the disclosure of such information is currently voluntarily based, we believe that the growing popularity of CSR leads to a direct link between the sustainability of the company and its nancial performance. The purpose of this paper is therefore to determine the linkage between CSR and nancial performance within two countries in the CEE region -Czech and Estonia -using data from 2012 -2013. We compare return on assets and normalized market value added of listed companies. Based on the results, we can state that the implementation of a standalone CSR report does not have any direct linkage with the nancial performance of the tested companies.

The main goal of this paper is to determine whether R&D funds are used efficiently in African countries. The innovativeness of a country’s economy is nowadays one of the key factors stimulating the economic growth and competitiveness. Becoming more innovative is important in particular for developing countries, whose governments are developing national innovation strategies (NIS) and assuming a steady increase in research and development spending. Efficient innovation policies are creating conditions for enterprise development and the increase of competitiveness of the country. A calculation of R&D spending efficiency for selected African economies for the years 2009-2017 was carried out using Data Envelopment Analysis methodology, which allows the evaluation of input-output efficiency. Public and private spending on R&D as % of GDP was the selected inputs indicator. The model examines three output indicators: the number of patent applications (per million inhabitants), high-technology exports (% of export), and number of technical and scientific journal articles (per million inhabitants). Among the analyzed countries, those on the efficiency frontier regarding the use of CRS methodology are South Africa and Tunisia. According to VRS methodology, the most efficient nations are South Africa, Tunisia, and Madagascar. The performed analysis has not confirmed our hypothesis regarding the non-proportional relation between higher R&D spending and innovation outputs. Considering limited innovation capacities across African countries, it appears to be reasonable to increase R&D expenditures gradually to achieve better results on the path toward innovationdriven growth and development.

The paper discusses ways of measuring the financial performance of businesses. The aim is to determine to what extent the form of profit calculation influences value of return on assets (hereinafter referred to as 'ROA'), which is frequently used as an indicator for measuring financial performance. The theoretical part is focused on the comparative analysis of accounting data based on Czech practices and IFRS with the in-depth focus on interest charges and reporting requirements. There is discussed the topic of objective and subjective measurement of financial performance. In the practical part, ROA is calculated using a profit in two forms of its construction. There are evaluated TOP 100 Czech companies in order to assess the differences in the final values of the tested indicator. The results are linked to the capital structure of the analysed companies and prove that the level of indebtedness influences the difference in the ROA calculations when different kinds of profit are used. In the case of the companies with higher indebtedness, it is more appropriate to compare the ROA indicators based on the nominator containing earnings before interest and taxes. It shall be concluded that this is a pioneer study of this topic in the Czech Republic and probably also in the CEE region.

Over the last decade, a growing number of developing and emerging countries have begun addressing corporate governance practice and issued a national governance code. This paper analyses and compares the code contents and approaches of the 11 developing and emerging countries after the latest revision of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance to examine whether these countries follow the international best practice despite the national specifics differ from those of developed countries. Individual codes are subjected to content analysis to evaluate the level of compliance with the OECD Principles. This paper goes beyond the well-known particulars of developed markets and provides a rare insight into the development of corporate governance frameworks in the developing and emerging countries in a crosscountry manner. We contribute to recognition and assessment of good corporate governance in developing and emerging countries and examine what impact the OECD Principles have had beyond its membership base of high-developed countries.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse corporate governance codes in the member states of the European Union (EU) and to examine to what extent is their contents shaped by the EU. Building on study of diffusion in organizational settings, we examine whether exogenous forces in the form of the European Commission recommendations have impact on the contents of corporate governance codes or contents is driven by domestic stakeholders representing endogenous forces. Furthermore, we contribute to limited research analysing evolution of corporate governance codes and we examine how compliance with the European Commission (EC) has changed over time. Our findings suggest a significant strengthening of codes' quality across member states and convergence tendency to international best practices. However, we are not able to affirm that the European Commission recommendations were that certain exogenous force to shape national governance codes.

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