Abstract:The impact of carbon emissions on corporate financial performance within the African corporate setting has remained open and inconclusive, owing primarily to the unavailability of data. However, this paper examines the effect of carbon emissions (Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 1 and 2) on the financial performance (ROE, ROI, and ROS) of 63 South African CDP companies for the 2015 fiscal year. Using multiple regression techniques, the paper found overwhelming evidence of a negative relationship between carbon emissions and corporate financial performance. Thus, results indicate that companies which integrate green investment initiatives designed to lower carbon emissions can effectually manage financial performance. Therefore, the paper provides useful insights on how companies can fully utilise their organisational resources and capabilities as well as gain insight, resulting in a higher environmental and financial performance within a firm.

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in its objectives and preamble, presume that IFRS adoption and perceived compliance to regulatory framework is associated with increased financial reporting quality. Based on these assumptions, this desktop study reviewed several documents to determine whether the IFRS adoption has led to increased financial reporting quality in Zimbabwe. The researchers reviewed literature on how the IAS/IFRS and regulations affect the financial reporting quality of listed companies. The factors around IFRS adoption were identified (mandatory, voluntary and convergence) and discussed in relation to the financial reporting quality. Evidence from previous studies conducted in line with this same issue shows that there is no conclusive evidence on how IFRS and regulations affect the financial reporting quality. Issues to be addressed in further studies include the importance of financial statements prepared under IFRS framework and the importance of compliance with accounting and auditing requirements.

Despite more than two decades of implementation, land reform in South Africa remains a hotly contested terrain that is beset with numerous challenges and uncertainties. One of the main goals of the programme was to transfer land from the predominantly white commercial farmers to a cohort of black small-scale commercial farmers who would productively utilize the farms using irrigation and actively contribute to the local and national agricultural value-chains (Anseeuw and Mathebula, 2008). However, since the mid-1990s when the reforms were introduced, South Africa has struggled to attain the main performance targets set for the reform program and its contribution to the livelihoods of the targeted beneficiaries remains debatable (Mngxitama, 2006;Ntsebeza, 2007; Mpehle, 2012). The land reform process in the country is constituted by three main pillars, namely, restitution, redistribution, and tenure reform.The main objective of the restitution pillar is to return land or provide compensation to black communities who were dispossessed of their land by the apartheid regime. In this regard, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa provides that persons or communities who were dispossessed of property after 19 June 1913 as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices are entitled to restoration of that property or to equitable redress. The redistribution pillar seeks to transfer land from white commercial farmers to blacks who have no land or have inadequate access to land, thereby increasing black ownership of commercial farming land in rural areas. This is provided for in Section 25(5) of the South African Constitution, which states that "the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis." The tenure reform pillar seeks to improve the tenure security of former commercial farming workers who have remained on the land that has been redistributed.

This research sought to establish if International Accounting Standards (IAS), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and regulations in Zimbabwe have been associated with increased financial reporting quality for listed companies. The study adopted mixed research approach. Questionnaires and unstructured interviews were used as research instruments to collect primary data. Content analysis was also adopted to triangulate the results. Target population was the listed companies in Zimbabwe. The study found a significant negative relationship between voluntary adoption of IFRS and earnings management of listed companies in Zimbabwe. The negative relationship may indicate that IFRS does not promote earnings management for voluntary adopters, thereby implying an increased financial reporting quality. It is recommended that top management, external auditors and regulators being the key players in standards, should work together and tighten compliance so that impact of IFRS could be felt more.