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It is basically known that the oil and gas industry contributes to various forms of pollution through air, acid rain and water, as well as different kinds of illnesses in humans and aquatic animals. Eventually, this adversely contributes to climate change owing to increases in emission levels in various stages of oil and gas operations ranging from extraction, refining, transportation and even consumption. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to produce a simplistic model for compliance with environmental taxes in the oil and gas industry as an effort to curtail such adversities. This attempt is expected to set a new pace for heated debates towards the production of a robust environmental tax compliance model through further research. Specifically, it has examined the effect of extensive regulation and use of power in ensuring compliance with environmental taxation via enforcement mechanisms.

The study used a quantitative research design through a positivist paradigm. The population of the study was 115 respondents who were identified as tax experts in three different stakeholder groups (regulators, operators and enforcers) in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Out of this population, 103 served as the final sample of the study. The data collected from these tax experts were analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The results revealed that both extensive regulation and the use of power have high likelihoods of enhancing compliance with environmental taxes through enforcement actions by the relevant authorities within the oil and gas industry.

The results implied the need for policymakers to deploy these enforcement mechanisms to enhance compliance with environmental taxes in the oil and gas industry, which will eventually reduce the environmental menace and ensure cleaner production. The paper also has highlighted the need for future researchers to expand this discussion through an elaborative approach either through disaggregating the variables studied here or integrating voluntary compliance mechanics into the model for further understanding of the drivers of environmental tax compliance. It also implied the need to utilize larger sample in other oil producing countries to improve generalization of results.

The work could be the pioneer in proposing and validating the enforced environmental tax compliance model in the oil and gas industry.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine how the voluntary formation of a specialised investment committee (IC) and IC characteristics affect financial distress risk (FDR) and whether such impact is influenced by the level of investment inefficiency.

The authors use a large sample of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) non-financial companies during 2006–2016. A principal component analysis is done to aggregate and derive a factor score for IC characteristics (i.e. independence, size and meeting) as a proxy for the effectiveness of IC. This study also uses three measurements of FDR to corroborate the findings and partitions sample firms into overinvesting and underinvesting companies to examine the potential impact of investment inefficiency on the IC–FDR nexus.

Using feasible generalised least square estimation method, the authors document that the likelihood of financial distress occurrence decreases for firms with separate ICs. The authors also find that firms with effective ICs enjoy lower FDR. In other words, the probability of financial distress minimises if the IC is large, meets frequently and has a high number of independent directors. However, the authors find neither any moderation nor any mediation effect of investment inefficiency for the impact of IC and IC attributes on FDR. The additional analysis indicates the expected benefits of an actively performing IC are amplified for firms with risk of both over- and underinvestment. These findings are robust to alternative measures of FDR and investment inefficiency, sub-sample analysis and endogeneity concerns.

This study, to the best of researchers’ knowledge, is the first to provide evidence in GCC firms’ perspective, suggesting that the existence of an effective IC is associated with a lower risk of financial distress, and to some extent, the economic benefits of IC are aggrandised for companies with a high probability of over- and underinvestment problems. These results are unique and contribute to a small but growing body of literature documenting the need for effective ICs and their economic consequences on investment efficiency in the FDR environment. The findings of this study carry valuable practical implications for regulatory bodies, policymakers, investors and other interested parties in the GCC region.

The current research inspects the moderation role of ownership concentration on chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics and real earnings management (REM) relationship in Jordan.

Driscoll–Kraay regressions were run using data from 348 firm-year observations for companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange between 2013 and 2018.

Driscoll–Kraay regressions demonstrate that CEO experience, tenure and political connections improve REM practices. Ownership concentration diminishes and limits REM practices when combined with CEO experience, tenure and political connections, since all three have a negative and significant link with REM.

Initial constraints include the study’s lack of generalisability due to a small number of CEO-related parameters. Second, critics of the ideal model for judging EM have a foreseeable flaw. No generally accepted model is perfect.

This study’s conclusions are crucial for industry participants, including companies, policymakers, investors and the general public. These findings will help investors, practitioners and regulators understand that businesses with significant ownership concentrations and experienced CEOs have superior earnings and low REM practises.

The findings of this study have an optimistic impact on the existing body of knowledge. The current literature has yet to properly inspect the moderation role that ownership concentration has on the connotation between CEO characteristics and EM.

Despite several research studies in both developed and developing nations, ownership concentration has been almost virtually neglected. The current study could fill a hole in earlier research, rendering it a novel study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of CEO discretion on the real earnings management and to explore whether the discretion of the CEO to ensure accurate and reliable financial reports is influenced by the political connection of board members.

Using the generalized method of movement to control the potential endogeneity on the sample of listed companies in Nigeria, the study conducted several checks using Driscoll–Kraay panel data regression with standard error to robust the main findings.

The paper provides evidence that CEO Discretion reduces the tendency of real earnings management and improve the reporting quality. However, the CEO’s discretion to provide reliable financial reports and to reduce the likely earnings manipulation is overturn by the presence of politically connected directors.

Existing studies on CEO attributes and earnings management in Nigeria fail to explain why CEOs were involved in corporate financial scandals. This paper suggests that the presence of politically connected directors is what override and upturn the CEO discretion to dwell into real earnings manipulations. Prior studies measured political connection using a dummy variable (Chaney et al., 2011; Osazuwa et al., 2016; Tee, 2018), this paper measured political connection using the proportion of politically connected directors. This is on the idea that the presence of more politically connected directors may give them the power to override the CEOs decision.

This study empirically investigates the role of product market competition and mature-stage firm life cycle on the relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and market performance in an emerging market context – Malaysia.

The authors construct a comprehensive CSR index toward the economy, environment and society (EES) and apply both Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) instrumental variables (IV) approaches to test the hypotheses of the study.

The authors find that EES-based CSR generally enhances firms' market performance; however, the level of product market competition undermines the market performance of socially and economically responsible firms. In addition, the study results indicate that mature-stage firm life cycle with more involvement in CSR activities shows better market performance. However, the endogeneity check of CSR suggests that both CSR and mature-stage firms are mutually exclusive in influencing market performance. The study findings are robust to alternative measures and different identifications of high and low default risk situations of sample firms.

This study carries practical policy implications for the listed firms, regulators and stakeholders in general. For example, regulatory bodies may promote greater involvement in CSR activities by listed companies in the Malaysian stock market. Investors and other market participants should be aware of factors influencing socially responsible firms' market performance such as the corporate life cycle and the level of competition in product markets.

This research work responds to the call of regulatory bodies in Malaysia at a time when the Malaysian economy is under threat of environmental distraction practices by the palm oil industry and import ban by the largest export market, i.e. the European Union by 2030. The study also contributes to the theoretical literature by refining the moderating role of product market competition and mature-stage life cycle on the relationship between CSR and market performance from the perspectives of resource-based and stakeholder theories in emerging economy settings.

This study examines the impact of two different types of foreign ownership—by Arab and non-Arab investors on firms' financial and social performance. It then goes on to investigate how the degree of board independence affects the aforementioned relationship between these two types of foreign investors on firm performance.

The sample for the study is a panel of all listed firms in the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and the Abu Dhabi Securities exchange (ADX) from 2008 to 2012.

Results indicate that while Arab foreign ownership affects firms' financial and social performance negatively, non-Arab foreign ownership does so, positively. Further tests indicate that board independence weakens the negative relationship between firm financial and social performance with foreign Arab ownership and deteriorate the relationship between firm financial and social performance and non-Arab foreign ownership.

Future studies may extend the coverage of the study by including other countries in the region and other identities of the foreign investors.

This study may help policy makers in the UAE to improve the implementation and enforcement of existing regulations concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR) and board independence. It also highlights the need to look into the monitoring role of independent board members.

This is the first study to examine the role of board independence on the relationship between foreign ownership and firm's financial and social performance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that attempts to enrich the understanding of foreign ownership by classifying it into Arab versus non-Arab.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of cash holding, political connection and their interaction effect on earnings quality in the Malaysian environment, where political influence plays a vital role in many aspects of business dealings and resources allocation is seriously affected by politics.

This paper uses ordinary least square and seemingly unrelated regressions upon a sample of the Malaysian top 100 listed firms.

This paper finds that earnings of firms with excess cash reserves are of high quality. Consistent with previous research, the study finds that investors perceive earnings numbers of politically connected firms as being of low quality. However, this research fails to support an expectation that the adverse consequences of holding a large amount of cash to earnings quality would be more pronounced when political extraction is high. The findings of this study suggest that policy makers should encourage or mandate firms to disclose information in relation to their connections with government, political party, or politicians so that investors and all interested parties can use the information to better assess the firms’ earnings quality.

This research is considered as the first attempt to examine the relationships between cash holdings, political connections, and earnings quality in a developing country such as Malaysia.

Existing studies on corporate governance mainly focus on how a strong governance system enhances the valuation of firms with cash holding or free cash flow agency problem. The aims of this paper are threefold. First, it investigates the impact of surplus free cash flows (SFCF) on earnings predictability. Second, it investigates whether corporate governance variables moderate the negative impact of SFCF on earnings predictability. Finally, this study examines whether the ability of corporate governance to mitigate SFCF and improve the predictive value of earnings varies between large and small firms.

This paper uses heteroskedasticity-corrected least square regressions upon a sample of Malaysian listed firms.

This paper finds that firms with high SFCF experience less earnings predictability. It also indicates that earnings of firms with high SFCF are more predictable when institutional investors hold a large stake of shares and when a chairperson is independent. Finally, this paper reveals that the role of institutional and managerial ownership in mitigating agency conflict of free cash flow and improving earnings predictability is more prominent in larger firms. This study implies that investors still have reservations about the ability of boards to enhance earnings numbers in Malaysia, although efforts were taken to reform the corporate governance mechanisms following the Asian financial crisis.

This research is considered as the first attempt to examine the relationships between SFCF, corporate governance, firm size, and earnings predictability in a developing county such as Malaysia. The findings of this paper serve as a wake-up call to policy makers to evaluate the importance of governance structure in enhancing earnings predictability in emerging economies.