The presumed poor performance in terms of sustainability commitments and Sustainability Reporting Quality (SRQ) of quoted companies have incentivized stakeholders' agitation relating to the Economic, Environmental, and Social (EES) impacts of companies' operations. Business activities have generated several threats in the form of climate change, pollution, GHG emission as well as natural disasters, and several other problems that have negatively affected the environment and stakeholders. Companies are expected to report their sustainability performance to stakeholders. However, the quality of such sustainability reports has been critically criticized as they are mostly assumed to fall below stakeholders' expectations. This study aims to conceptually examine the association between board governance mechanisms and SRQ in Malaysia. The method adopted by this study is the review of previous literature on sustainability reporting practices and

PurposeThe present study examines the effect of the chief executive officer (CEO) career horizon (CH) problem on earnings quality (ERN) for selected family-controlled firms known to have a unique operational goal.Design/methodology/approachThe generalised method of moment linear regression model was used on a sample of family-controlled firms in Malaysia from 2005 to 2016.FindingsThe study found a negative relationship between CH and ERN, measured by earnings persistence and earnings predictability. However, in the earnings predictability model, the reverse was found to be the case after interacting CH with CEO family affiliation, CEO experience and CEO equity. However, the use of a reputable auditor could not mitigate the CH problem. Also, the study obtained a closely related result in the earnings persistence model. The result aligns with the socio-emotional wealth (SEW) theory, which states that the goals of family-controlled firms go beyond financial objectives to include other non-financial objectives, and hence, their commitment to perpetuating their dynasty encourages them to preserve the quality of their earnings.Originality/valueExisting studies on family firms and ERN have treated family firms as homogeneous entities by comparing family and non-family firms, using the underlying theoretical justification of the agency theory. However, this study departs from the agency theory, by considering those factors (i.e. the extent of CEO alignment with family owners and the choice of auditor), using the SEW theory, which establishes the differences among family firms. This work builds on that of Chen et al., (2018) and Ali and Zhang (2015), which suggested that corporate governance can mitigate the CH problem. Therefore, the strength of a CEO's attachment to the family firm (measured by CEO equity ownership and CEO affiliation to family members in family firms) and the choice of the auditor can explain the variation in the effect of the CH problem in family firms.

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of regulatory changes on financial reporting quality and audit fees and to further test whether this effect was moderated by firm characteristics (i.e. abnormal audit fees, political connections and overlapping directorship) in Nigeria. This study utilized the data of 90 companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange over the period 2008–2013. Using Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) technique that takes into account the endogeneity nature of financial reporting quality and audit fees model, the results indicated that financial reporting quality improved in the regulatory changes period. However, abnormal audit fees, political connection and overlapping directorship deteriorated the effect. Accordingly, future regulatory reforms must be cognizant of these factors. Even though there are abundant empirical studies on financial regulatory changes and their effects on financial reporting quality, this study provides additional insights into the regulatory change literature by investigating how firm characteristics (abnormal audit fees, political connection and overlapping directorship) moderate the effect of regulatory changes particularly in Nigeria, one of the less developed and underresearched capital markets in the world. Further, the findings of this study are robust with respect to the issues of unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity, which previous studies had failed to consider.

Purpose This study aims to examine the unique nature of family firms by investigating the moderating effect of chief executive officer (CEO) identity on CEO career horizon and the auditor’s client risk assessment. Consistent with literature on family businesses, the level of CEO attachment to socio-emotional wealth (SEW) varies among family businesses. Design/methodology/approach This study used a longitudinal sample of 2,063 non-financial family firm-year observations from 2005 to 2016 listed on the Bursa Malaysia. The study used the general method of moments (GMM), which controls for endogeneity concerns. Findings The results reveal that, without the moderating effect of CEO identity, the relationship between CEO career horizon and auditor’s risk assessment is positive, which suggests that the auditor’s risk perception of retiring CEOs is very high. However, the interaction of CEO identity reverses the relationship as evidenced by the negative and significant coefficient on the interacted terms. The finding suggests that the auditor’s perceived risk associated with CEO career horizon is lower in family firms with CEOs affiliated to family members or in which the CEO has an equity stake. Overall, the findings provide compelling evidence that the extent of the CEO’s attachment to the firm’s SEW affects the auditor’s client risk assessment. Practical implications The findings of the study serve as an enlightenment to policymakers such as Bursa Malaysia and Security Commission that within the family-controlled firms, differences still exist; therefore, there might be a need for future regulatory initiative to cater for the specific need of family-controlled firms. Originality/value The study contributes to prior literature by departing from the agency theory adopted in previous studies on auditor choice in family firms under the assumption that family firms are homogenous.

No abstract