We examine the impact of various factors on the quality of environmental disclosure. Combining multi-theories in a unique framework, it focuses on factors related to the strategy and vision of the firm (environmental audit, presence of an environmental committee), diversity of and within boards (independence of the board, gender diversity) and factors related to the environment (environmental performance, degree of pollution of the company). This study involves an attempt to develop a self-constructed index to measure environmental disclosure quality using qualitative attributes as provided by IASB and GRI frameworks and following (Chauvey et al. in J Bus Ethics, 130(4): [789][790][791][792][793][794][795][796][797][798][799][800][801][802][803] 2014). A number of econometric techniques are used including panel data specifications using a sample of French listed companies in SBF120 for the period 2009-2014. The study found that quality of disclosure remains relatively low. In addition, the findings indicate that a company's strategy and vision (environmental audit), diversity in boards (gender diversity) and environmental performance play significant roles in explaining variations in quality of environmental disclosure. This paper sheds light on whether various factors could affect the credibility of disclosed information using a multi theory framework. Standards setters and policy makers are recommended to think about implementing a generally accepted framework of non-financial reporting to answer the demand for more transparency and accountability. This paper fills the gap in the literature by highlighting an unexplored area of literature related to the quality of non-financial reporting drawing upon the regulatory framework of financial reporting.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential influence of corporate governance mechanisms on risk disclosure quality in Tunisia. Design/methodology/approach The authors examine 152 annual reports of Tunisian non-financial-listed firms during 2008–2013, and use the manual content analysis method to measure the risk disclosure quality. Findings The authors find that the quality of risk disclosure in Tunisian companies is relatively low, and also find that the quality of risk disclosure is positively associated with institutional ownership, board independence, the presence of women on the board, the presence of family members on the board and the independence of audit committee. Managerial ownership has a negative effect on risk disclosure quality. Finally, the authors find that the revolution decreases the influence of concentration ownership, government ownership, family ownership and audit committee size on risk disclosure quality. Originality/value Using a comprehensive set of corporate governance mechanisms and a new measure for risk disclosure quality in Tunisia, the authors provide the first empirical evidence on the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on risk disclosure quality in a developing country. The study has theoretical and practical implications for both developed and developing countries.

Those who use stakeholder theory as a reference are both underlining the correlation between facts and a certain conceptualisation thereof (Section 1) and trying to make the necessary shift from a "panoptic" analysis akin to a panoramic vision of texts and positions (Section 2) to an "in-depth" one geared towards an understanding of their foundations (Section 3). As a "theory of organisations", stakeholder theory helps to nourish a relational model of organisations by revisiting questions about "who" is actually working with (and in) the firm. Stakeholder theory is part of a comprehensive project that views the organisation-group relationship as both a foundation and a norm.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify the influence of environmental and institutional factors on the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standard for small and medium-sized entities (IFRS for SMEs). This study used the neo-institutional theory and the economic theory of networks to explain why countries choose to adopt IFRS for SMEs. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on logistic regression analysis to investigate 177 countries, including 77 jurisdictions that adopted IFRS for SMEs between 2009 and 2015. Findings The findings confirm that the adoption of IFRS for SMEs is significantly related to law enforcement quality, culture, trading networks and economic growth. At the institutional level, coercive and normative isomorphism was found to be positively associated with IFRS for SMEs adoption. The results show also that the quality of the audit has no significant effect on the adoption of IFRS for SMEs. However, the joint effect of the quality of audit and quality of law enforcement is significantly related to the adoption of IFRS for SMEs. Practical implications The study contributes to a better understanding of the factors influencing the implementation of IFRS for SMEs standard across the globe and could be used to predict a country’s decision to adopt this standard. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on international accounting harmonization by examining both environmental and institutional factors that influence the adoption of IFRS for unlisted private companies.

We investigate the joint effect of corporate risk disclosure (CRD) and corporate governance (CG) on firm value in Tunisia.Design/methodology/approach: We examine a sample of 156 firm-observations of Tunisian listed companies during 2008-2013. A manual content analysis method is used to measure the level of risk disclosure. Findings:We find that CRD a negative and significant effect on firm value. In addition, family ownership negatively affects firm value. However, board size, the independence of the audit committee, and the presence of the women on the board lead to greater firm value. We find a substitution effect between CRD and CG mechanisms on the firm value.Originality/value: This paper adds to risk disclosure studies by examining the economic consequences of CRD in emerging market. Furthermore, this paper contributes to the literature by being the first study, to the best of our knowledge, which investigates the joint effect of CRD and CG mechanisms on firm value.

This study explores the influence of ethics education on accounting students' level of ethical reasoning in Tunisia. Based on cognitive developmental theory, we tested the effectiveness of an ethics intervention before and after ethics education with a control group. A triangulated research design was incorporated. Experimental and qualitative methods were used to control for experimental bias. This study revealed that the progress of moral development was not significant between the pre-test and the post-test. Data analysis revealed the primary challenges in teaching ethics in the Tunisian audit context. Through a confirmatory qualitative survey, stating ''the consequences of unethical behaviour in the long term'' demonstrates that the intervention meets the primary interest of this study, and it may influence auditors' decisions and their perceptions of the potential consequences of their decisions.

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Purpose In addition to financial reporting, more and more companies report environmental, social and governance (ESG) information in emerging countries. This practice is intended to fulfill the information needs of all the company’s stakeholders, and more specifically the investors. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to analyze whether investors include ESG information into their investment allocation decisions in Tunisian capital market. Second, to identify the information dimension having the more effect on their investment allocation decisions. Design/methodology/approach A field experiment was conducted in an emerging country (Tunisia) among 245 novices and experienced financial stakeholders to analyze how ESG information is taken into account in their investment allocation decisions. Findings The results of the factorial mixed analysis of variance show that ESG information influenced the investment allocation decisions in Tunisia. In addition, the results of the post-hoc test indicate that governance and social information had more influence than environmental information. Research limitations/implications This paper is limited to the analysis of the influence of ESG information only on the decisions of financial stakeholders in Tunisia. In future research works, it will be relevant to study the decisions of other stakeholders and to carry out comparative studies between several countries. Practical implications The results can only strengthen and motivate companies to pay more attention to their ESG information disclosure practices. They are also likely to attract the attention of the accounting standard setters on the need to standardize these practices. Originality/value The original contribution of this paper lies not only in the analysis of three dimensions of extra-financial information: E, S and G through an experiment carried out in an emerging country, but also especially in the comparison of the influence of each dimension on investment allocation decisions.