The purpose of this study is to determine whether board independence and ownership have any influence on the decision on CSR disclosure. This study uses the proportion of pages in an annual report and a CSR disclosure checklist to measure the extent and quality of a firm’s CSR disclosure. Multiple regression and logistic regression analysis are employed to test the hypotheses. The paper finds that boards of family owned firms are negatively associated with the level and the quality of CSR disclosure. The fact that board independence is not significant on CSR disclosure could be due to the fact that CSR initiatives are strategic in nature. Finally, firm’s size, performance and leverage are found to have significant effects on CSR. This study was conducted among Malaysian top 100. The generalizability of the findings of this study is, thus, limited to Malaysian large firms. One of the major findings of this study is the ineffectiveness of the board of directors in ensuring firms discharge its social responsibility. Relevant authorities may need to come up with measures to ensure independent directors are effective. The study adds to the understanding of how ownership structure plays an influential role as oppose to independent board of directors on CSR disclosure in Malaysia.

This paper aims to examine the impact of board characteristics on the level of corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) in the Jordanian banking sector for a sample of 147 banks/years during a period of 10 years (2004-2013). A checklist consisting of 100 items is developed to measure the disclosure level and the result indicates a relatively low level of disclosure in Jordanian banks. Multiple regression analysis is employed to examine the developed hypotheses. The results indicated that the larger board size and higher level of disclosure are correlated. However, low level of disclosure is associated to higher proportion of independent directors and institutional directors. In addition, female director is found to negatively affect the level of disclosure. This study has filled some of the previous studies’ gaps; the study is conducted in a new business environment. Besides, previous CSRD’s studies have not considered some of the board characteristics such as institutional directors. Thus this study investigates their impacts on the level of CSRD. In addition, this study provides some guidelines for the future works. Furthermore, the findings of this study might be interested to several groups of shareholders and stakeholders such as government, regulators, potential investors and CSR agencies.

This article examines whether the participation of women on audit committee boards enhances audit committee effectiveness to control earnings management practices. While numerous studies have investigated the effects of women audit committee on earnings management, empirical evidence is rather inconsistent. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the impact of female representation on audit committee effectiveness. In order to address the objective of the study, we use cross-sectional version of the performance-adjusted current discretionary accruals model to detect earnings management (Kothari, Leone and Wasley, 2005). Using a sample of 356 companies for the year ended 2007; we found a significant negative relationship between the presence of women directors on audit committee boards and earning managements. The results suggest that the presence of women directors on audit committee boards reduces earning management practices.

This study examines the influence of corporate governance on the extent of corporate social responsibility and environmental reporting (CSER) in Libyan companies according to legitimacy theory, using quantitative and qualitative methods. The variables used in this study are government ownership, chief executive officer duality, board independence, and board size. The study was conducted in Libya because this country has a unique political and economic system. Moreover, the regime in Libya has influenced the nature of CSER, as has Islamic factor. The quantitative data consist of 162 annual reports derived from 42 Libyan companies. The qualitative data are obtained from 31 financial and information managers from the largest Libyan companies, who expressed their perceptions regarding the influence of the study variables on the extent of CSER. Results confirm that corporate governance generally has no influence on the extent of CSER in Libyan companies, with the exception of board size.

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Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs’) masculinity, CEO characteristics (accounting background, turnover and ethnicity/race) and earnings management (EM) in Malaysia. It also examined the moderating effect of the CEOs’ ethnicity/race (Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera) on the relationship between CEO masculinity and EM. Design/methodology/approach The analyses were based on a panel data set of 260 corporates listed on the Bursa Malaysia from 2009 to 2019. Python/code was used to calculate the facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), while testosterone (TESTN) was calculated based on CEO age and fWHR. To estimate the results, panel data analysis with a fixed effect model was used. Findings The result shows that fWHR and TESTN have a significant positive effect on EM. CEO race has a significant impact on EM, implying that non-Bumiputera CEOs are more likely to be associated with EM. There was no statistically significant evidence that race moderates the relationship between CEO masculinity and EM. Research limitations/implications The research contributes to the growing evidence in the field of neuroscience that it is possible to infer aspects of an individual’s behavior based on their facial structure and their TESTN levels. The findings provide new evidence supporting Malaysian Government policies in reducing masculinity on boards of directors and senior executive positions, which will positively affect the integrity of financial reports. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first research to explain whether the ethnicity/race of CEOs is related to EM and whether it has a significant moderate effect on the relationship between masculinity and EM.

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