Abstract

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The basic aim of this paper is to systematically review the corporate governance research trends in Pakistan and to give directions for future researchers in this field. The methodology adopted in this paper is “Systematic Literature Review,” 108 papers have been used from the period 2002–2020 along with 17 research theses in this study. The findings of this study show two trends in corporate governance research first one form 2008 to 2016 and the second one is from 2017 to 2020. The first trend shows that corporate governance (variables) is linked with traditional topics such as firm performance, dividend policy, capital structure, cost of capital and earnings management. The theory which is mostly used in the first corporate governance trend is the agency theory. In the second trend, corporate governance (variables) are linked with multiple issues while taking various theoretical perspectives such as risk taking, tunneling, CSR, investment portfolios, board-related issues, financial distress and much more. This paper has identified and filled the research gap by writing a comprehensive review paper of the prevailing corporate governance literature and has given directions for future researchers to consider it. To the best of researchers’ knowledge, this is the first study that has systematically reviewed and synthesized the corporate governance literature by adopting the systematic literature review methodology in Pakistan an emerging economy. It is an extensive effort for the purpose to encourage the interested researchers/scholars to add and expand their contributions to the corporate governance literature in Pakistan on the potentially identified areas of corporate governance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the board of directors’ related clauses such as independence, female director, CEO Duality and the expertise of director included in the Code of Corporate Governance 2017 (CCG-2017) on earnings management with the pre- and post-CCG-2017 analysis. This study has used the sample of 323 non-financial listed firms of the Pakistan Stock Exchange from 2015 to 2019. Data were manually collected from companies’ annual reports, and two proxies of earnings management have used: one is discretionary accruals and the other is real activity manipulation. The results of the study show that as compared to the pre-period of CCG-2017 in the post-period of CCG-2017 board independence, expertise and female inclusion has increased significantly. Moreover, board independence and financially expert directors are negatively related to discretionary accruals, while there is a positive relationship of female directors with discretionary accruals, which is also same for real activity manipulation. The findings also show that there is no relationship of board independence/outside directors and expert directors with real activity manipulation. This study recommended the CCG-2017 reforms introduced by the regulator. Moreover, we recommend that the regulator needs to augment the authentic independence of independent/outside directors in listed firms (concentrated ownership context) of Pakistan. This study adds its part in the corporate governance literature by focusing board attributes with regulatory reforms on earnings manipulation, which is lacking in the related literature in general and in Pakistan an emerging economy in particular.

Research Question/Issue: This research aims to comprehend the level of corporate social responsibility in Pakistan. The need of the hour is to assess and identify the coverage of the corporations toward its social responsibility. How much each of the elements has its contributions in achieving that level and how we can overcome all of these deficiencies? Research Findings/Insights: By archival data from different companies in Pakistan with a sample of 110 to 120 companies. We find that Pakistan has a moderate level of corporate social responsibility (a numeric value). And "social accountability and social investment" was the main variable contributing in scoring that level. We identify the most weakest and stronger sub variables that have a negative or positive impact on overall CSR in Pakistan. Society, company as well as government ought to effort jointly additional intimately for getting better creature answerability. Theoretical/Academic Implications: This research provides an empirical hold for the all the companies in Pakistan to improve their index of social accountability, ethics, human resource, environmental protection, corporate governance and finally corporate social responsibility. Practitioner/Policy Implications: This research offers imminent to executive level managers and Government concerned with maximizing of the level of corporate social responsibility in Pakistan. This gives a dimension or guide of company's accountability at country or community stage.