It is argued that managers took advantage of Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and remote auditing and used earnings management (EM) practices extensively. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic created new unsearched crisis-related incentives. This study, therefore, tests whether Covid-19 created a new incentive for managers to manipulate earnings. It also examines the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and board independence and EM during Covid-19. A data set of 384 firm-year observations from 2018 to 2021 of non-financial firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) was investigated. Results indicate that Jordanian firms engaged in EM during Covid-19 considerably more than when compared to pre-Covid-19, suggesting that Covid-19 created a new incentive for managers to manipulate earnings. Furthermore, Jordanian firms used income-increasing EM much more when compared to income-decreasing EM. However, when taking Covid-19 into account, no significant association was found between board independence and EM. In addition, the ability of CSR to constrain EM decreased. This adds to the current debate in the literature that even well-established monitoring mechanisms like board independence and CSR are unable to constrain EM practices in a unique business environment caused by Covid-19.

The literature argues that the quality of a firm’s financial reporting is reflected in the extent of its sustainability disclosure (SD). This study therefore examines the link between CEO characteristics (i.e., age, financial experience, duality leadership structure) and privileges (i.e., compensation and ownership) and the extent of SD. It also examines whether board independence has a vital impact on this association. A panel data set of 329 firm-year observations of firms listed on the Amman stock Exchange (ASE) between 2022 and 2023 is investigated. While the results show that a CEO’s age and compensation positively and significantly affect the magnitude of a firm’s SD, the CEO’s financial experience, duality and ownership do not have a significant link to SD. Moreover, when board independence moderates the association between CEO characteristics and privileges and the extent of SD, the only variable that has a positive and significant effect on the extent of sustainability information is the CEO’s age. The findings are expected to be beneficial to firms’ decision makers regarding the selection of CEOs, as well as in deciding their compensation schemes. It also adds new evidence to the current debate in the literature on this issue, especially from a developing capital market like Jordan.

The main objective of this paper is to explore the most significant determinants of financial distress of manufacturing companies in Indonesia and to provide explanations on this issue by using multiple regression models. With Modigliani and Miller’s and Trade-off theories were reviewed to formulate a testable proposition on the determinants of financial distress of manufacturing companies in Indonesia. Multiple regression models were used as a statistical tool to investigate the most significant profitability determinants of manufacturing companies in Indonesia. The Lisrel software was used to analyze 300 manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. It was found that institutional ownership, firm size, profitability, and board independence as variables had a positive relationship in an effort to avoid financial distress. Meanwhile, the board size variable had an insignificant positive relationship. The findings are consistent with the pecking order and financial agency theory which helps in understanding the application of financial distress studies for manufacturing companies in Indonesia.

We examine the impact of the firm’s life-cycle on board composition of Vietnam's listed firms. The data is balanced and covered over the period 2012-2018 for 442 Vietnam listed firms. We use a fixed-effects regressions analysis to examine the effect of a firm's life-cycle (Lifecycle), and dummy variables of firm's life-cycle (Growth, Mature, Decline) on the board composition (board size, board independence, CEO duality). Our findings show the board composition of Vietnam’s listed firms tends to decrease with the firm's life-cycle. Therefore, the firms need to adjust board composition to a proper level promptly to improve their competitiveness, and consider the supervisory function of the board members is not enough positive in the life-cycle of the firms.

This study examined the effect of board diversity on the financial performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study also examined the relationship between board independence and financial performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. For the purpose of this study, the proxy for financial performance is profit margin while the proxies for board diversity and board independence are the ratio of female directors to total board size and ratio of non-executive directors to total board size, respectively. The data for the study were sourced from the annual reports of 10 listed deposit money banks in Nigeria from 2008 to 2017. The data were analyzed using pooled Ordinary Least Square regression. The results show that the coefficient of board diversity was positively signed and statistically significant at 5% (β=0.34, ρ=0.02); the coefficient of board independence was positively signed and statistically significant at 5% (β= 0.11, ρ=0.02). The study concludes that both gender diversity and board independence positively affect the financial performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. Therefore, the study recommends that deposit money banks should encourage appointment of qualified female directors on the board. In addition, deposit money banks should ensure the independence of the board by appointing independent non-executive director who are well experienced in bank management.

This study examines the relationship between corporate governance’s mechanisms and liquidity of stocks on 66 selected firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2005-2009. Board composition and ownership structure are used as corporate governance’s mechanisms and illiquidity measure proposed by Amihud (2002) [Amihud, Y. (2002). Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects. Journal of financial markets, 5(1), 31-56.] is used to measure stock liquidity. The results show that an increase on the number of independent boards is associated with higher liquidity. In addition, the results show that there was a significant relationship between liquidity and ownership structure. In other words, the relationships between liquidity and individual investors and five biggest investors are positive and the relationships between liquidity and institutional ownership and the biggest investor ownership are negative. In addition, there is not a significant relationship between liquidity and duality of managers.