Editorial. Small and Medium-sized Entities Reporting in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

This special issue of the journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems groups recent research into reporting by Small and Mediumsized Entities (SMEs) in four countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), namely Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey. SMEs represent the vast majority of entities in many jurisdictions around the world, contribute significantly to the economic development and employ a significant number of staff in their totality, despite overcoming sometimes severe difficulties in accessing funding, staffing or procuring resources to secure their survival and development. The editorial introduces the special issue by outlining the motivation that led to its publication, the common themes and the contribution of the papers presented, and by suggesting some future research avenues in light of recent developments. We strongly encourage our readers to discover the commonalities and differences that characterize the business and reporting environment of SMEs across the CEE region, as well as the diversity of approaches and practice existing in the region.

Using social media analytics: The effect of President Trump’s tweets on companies’ performance

“…Investors use Google searches (Drake et al, 2012), Twitter (Blankespoor et al, 2013), EDGAR (Drake et al, 2015), Wikipedia (Xu & Zhang, 2013), and financial blogs (Saxton & Anker, 2013) to obtain information for investment decisions (Pennington and Kelton 2016). Implications of accelerated advancement in social media include economic, regulatory, social, and cultural pressures that may affect the utilization of accounting information (Albu & Klimczak, 2017). The social media becomes another source of accounting information for all stakeholders.…”

Reinventing the wheel? Factors influencing relationship: links between sustainability and financial performance. European evidence

“…In addition, from the results, it can be further argued that European firms started getting benefits from EU directive, Directive 2014/95/EU, as well as the Paris Agreement which engaged governmental institutions to facilitate an ecosystem for corporate sustainability practices. Though PS is still worrisome, especially in the CEE areas, EU central mechanisms help to reform CEE member states to improve their condition (Batory, 2012; Andonova, 2003; Albu et al , 2016). In this vein, investors are becoming more confident in sustainability projects, and this phenomenon was observed by capturing a rising firm’s market value (Tobin’s Q).…”

A Model of Risk Information Disclosures in Non-Financial Corporate Reports of Socially Responsible Energy Companies in Poland

“…Many authors studied reporting practices of their respective countries' companies. Many studies have investigated internal and external factors of CSR reporting-for example, whether internal (e.g., industry and size) and external factors (e.g., Stakeholder pressures) impact risk disclosure e.g., [48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]. Horváth et al [50] show annual socially responsible listed company reporting practices in nine CEE and two Western European countries (Germany and Austria).…”

“…Horváth et al [50] show annual socially responsible listed company reporting practices in nine CEE and two Western European countries (Germany and Austria). Albu and Klimczak [51] show the differences and commonalities that characterise the CSR reporting of companies operating in three CEE countries (Poland, Romania, and Slovenia) and Turkey. These authors also presented the diversity of practices and approaches existing in those four countries.…”