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This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Ghanaian listed banks using COSO’s IC framework. Only Control environment, Risk assessment, and Monitoring activities components of the framework considered for this study. Methodologically, out of the 60 questionnaires, surveys distributed to the banks 37 copies received representing a 61.7% response rate. Statistic Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v25 used to analyze data by running among other reliability tests, tests of normality, and descriptive statistics. The results of means and standard deviations gained ascertained that; strong controls existed in the control environment, risk assessment, and monitoring activities of internal control of the Ghanaian listed banks. A risk assessment had a low average mean compared to the control environment and monitoring activities. Because banks operate under higher risk than any other financial institution, we propose that Ghanaian listed banks should increase investment in risk assessment.

This study aims to examine the effect of the audit committee and internal audit on the audit report lag and examine the relationship between the audit committee and the internal audit moderated by the size of a public accounting firm. This study uses 220 samples of manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange based on purposive sampling. The analytical method used is Partial Least Square (PLS). The results show that the audit committee influences the audit report lag while the internal audit has no effect. The size of a public accounting firm successfully moderated the relationship between the audit committee and audit report lag, but failed to moderate the relationship between the internal audit and audit report lag

The study's objective was to analyse the relationship between corporate governance attributes and financial reporting quality from a developing country perspective. Data was collected through quantitative content analysis of annual reports and audited financial statements (2012 to 2018) of Zambian-listed companies. This was a longitudinal study that involved panel data analysis. Therefore, a Hausman test was conducted to select the model to use. Panel regression analysis was used as a data analysis technique. Results show a statistically significant positive relationship between board size and financial reporting quality. A positive but statistically insignificant relationship existed between board accounting expertise, board gender diversity, audit committee independence and financial reporting quality. A negative but insignificant relationship existed between board independence and financial reporting quality. The corporate governance system alone cannot guarantee quality financial information by reporting entities. This could be related to the lack of an effective corporate governance system. Therefore, authorities must consider strengthening the regulatory enforcement mechanisms to ensure that companies achieve high financial reporting quality.

This study aimed to analyze the effect of auditor rotation, audit fees, audit tenure, and professional skepticism on audit quality. The data collection method was carried out on 370 auditors who worked at the big 10 public accounting firms (KAP). The research data was in the form of a Likert scale questionnaire which was collected and analyzed using SPSS for windows ver. 22. The results of this study indicated that each independent variable had a simultaneous effect on audit quality. The auditor rotation variable significantly affected audit quality with an antagonistic relationship direction, so the first hypothesis was accepted. The audit fee variable had no significant effect on audit quality. The audit tenure variable had no significant effect on audit quality. The professional skepticism variable had a significant effect on audit quality. The professional skepticism variable had the highest beta coefficient among other variables, so the professional skepticism variable had the strongest and simultaneous effect on audit quality.

The objective of this research id to assess the effect of Quality Control System elements. i.e. relevant ethical terms and independency, on audit quality and to identify the moderating role of professional skepticism on the effect of quality control system on audit quality. The population of this research auditor working in Indonesian Big Ten public accounting firms, from which 252 auditors were selected as the sample. Using PLS-based SEM in SmartPLS, this study finds that relevant ethical terms and independency affect audit quality and that professional skepticism moderates the effect of independence on audit quality, but it does not moderate the effect of relevant ethical terms on audit quality.

This study explores the relationship between gender diversity in South African audit committees and financial reporting quality (FRQ) of non-financial companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from 2020 to 2024. A quantitative approach was employed to investigate these relationships, utilising an ex post facto design to collect data from the Osiris database and integrated annual reports. Gender diversity within audit committees was assessed using several measures: dummy variables indicating whether an audit committee had one female director (ACFD1) or two or more female directors (ACFD2), as well as the proportion of females on the committee (ACGD) and its square (ACGD²). FRQ was assessed using earnings management (EM), evaluated through accrual earnings management (AEM) and real earnings management (REM). The study applied both linear and curvilinear models, using fixed-effects models and Two-Stage Least Squares to test the hypotheses. The regression results revealed that ACFD1 had an insignificant negative impact on AEM and an insignificant positive impact on REM. In contrast, ACFD2 showed a significant negative impact on both AEM and REM. Additionally, ACGD had a significant positive impact on AEM, while ACGD² exhibited a significant negative impact. For REM, ACGD also had a significant positive effect, whereas ACGD² demonstrated a significant negative impact. These results indicate that audit committee gender diversity has an inverted U-shaped effect on both AEM and REM. The study's inverted U-shaped results align with critical mass theory, which suggests that a balanced representation of female directors (between 40% and 60%) can reduce earnings manipulation and enhance FRQ. Furthermore, these results provide a strong business case for increasing female representation to critical-mass levels, thereby minimising EM. Theoretically, this research underscores the importance of critical mass and collective action when examining the economic benefits of gender diversity in audit committees. Regulators are encouraged to consider audit committee gender diversity beyond mere numbers.

The study investigates governance challenges in South Africa’s state-owned entities (SOEs) by assessing disclosures provided in SOEs’ annual reports and financial statements regarding fraud, unauthorised expenditure, irregular expenditure, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure between 2022 and 2024, in line with section 55 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) No. 1 of 1999. Adopting an interpretivist research philosophy, the study utilizes qualitative methods through a content analysis of the annual reports and financial statements of the five sampled SOEs. The analysis revealed that, although the selected SOEs demonstrated partial compliance with Section 55 of the PFMA, significant governance and reporting shortcomings persist. While most SOEs maintained records and produced financial statements, none provided evidence of submitting these reports within the required timeframes, and one entity had not produced its 2024 reports by the cut-off date of 10 October 2025. The financial statements frequently lacked a fair and accurate reflection of each SOE’s financial position and performance. Disclosures related to financial misconduct were particularly weak and inconsistent, with irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure reported more often than cases of fraud or unauthorised expenditure, which were largely omitted. These disclosure shortcomings suggest that compliance among SOEs remains superficial and procedural rather than substantive, undermining accountability, transparency and the overall integrity of financial reporting.

This study examines how formal and informal institutional pressures influence public sector financial reporting quality in Ghana. Despite ongoing public financial management reforms, challenges such as weak enforcement of standards, inconsistent disclosures, and limited transparency continue to undermine reporting quality. Existing research has largely emphasised technical and administrative determinants, with limited attention to the role of institutional pressures in shaping reporting behaviour. Grounded in Institutional Theory, the study adopts a quantitative approach and collects data from 344 senior finance officers across ministries, departments, and agencies in Ghana. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is employed to analyse the relationships between regulatory environment, government structure, societal expectations, stakeholder expectations, and financial reporting quality. The results indicate that government structure and societal expectations significantly enhance financial reporting quality, while the regulatory environment and stakeholder expectations have no significant direct effects. The study contributes to institutional theory by demonstrating that formal and informal pressures exert unequal influence in a developing-country public sector context. It also extends public sector accounting literature by providing large-sample empirical evidence from Ghana. The findings suggest that improving reporting quality requires strengthening governance structures, enhancing civic accountability mechanisms, and improving enforcement capacity.

This study investigates the impact of financial and pension factors, including funding ratios, pension accounting modifications, and anticipated future cash flows, on disclosure practices in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Although previous studies have provided significant insights into the correlation among pension variables, corporate attributes, and disclosure levels, empirical information in IFRS jurisdictions is still few. To rectify this deficiency, we examine the factors influencing key actuarial estimate (CAE) disclosures and the actual variations in discount rates and anticipated asset returns, utilising panel data from 173 German companies (DAX, MDAX, SDAX), encompassing 1,057 and 1,352 firm-year observations, respectively. Employing the deferred remuneration theory as a framework, the findings reveal that greater firm size and regulatory status enhance the sensitivity of discount rates and anticipated returns, whereas extensive litigation disclosures diminish both. Profitability is positively correlated with sensitivity, whereas a weaker financed status exerts a mitigating influence. The correlations are most robust and consistent among DAX and MDAX companies, but less so among SDAX companies. The model exhibits a high overall fit, with R² values between 0.38 and 0.72. The results indicate that management of larger, regulated enterprises must be particularly vigilant about the formulation and dissemination of pension-related assumptions, as disclosure decisions can significantly affect market reactions. This study enhances comprehension of the factors and implications of pension assumption disclosures by presenting comparative evidence from significant German indices, thereby proposing practical recommendations for company policy and regulatory supervision. This work theoretically expands the deferred remuneration theory (DRT) by illustrating that the intensity and orientation of compensation–disclosure interactions differ systematically based on firm size, governance structure, and financial attributes. This indicates that the amount and direction of the relationship between remuneration and disclosure are not consistent, contrary to DRT's assumption. Instead, they exhibit consistent variation based on firm size, governance frameworks, and critical financial performance metrics.

The Republic of South Africa (RSA) adopted the move to accrual-based accounting in 1999, and the implementation of GRAP standards by the Municipalities has been affected since 2006. The expected benefits were improving transparency, accountability, quality, and efficiency of municipal financial reporting. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of GRAP standards on the quality of financial reporting in RSA municipalities during the period of Pre-GRAP (2005/06 to 2009/10) compared to Post-GRAP (2010/11 to 2015/16).   This study employed a quantitative approach wherein secondary data was sourced online from the National Treasury database. A panel dataset split into two subpanels (pre and post), drawn from a sample of 125 municipalities, was used to test the study’s hypothesis.  The data were winsorized to eliminate outliers, and a multicollinearity test was conducted to identify and eliminate variables that could have resulted in model misspecification. A Hausman Test was used to select the study’s regression model, which was estimated using the STATA 15 software. The residuals of the regression model were used as a measure of accrual quality and, hence, financial reporting quality. A larger standard deviation of residuals indicates poorer accruals quality and financial reporting quality. The findings indicated a standard deviation of 0.061 (pre-GRAP) and 0.084 (post-GRAP) for the adoption periods, which indicates higher financial reporting quality. These relatively unchanged standard deviation results suggest that GRAP did not significantly improve the quality of financial reporting by municipalities after its adoption.