The Moderating Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Financial Performance: Evidence from OECD Countries

This study aims to investigate the nature and intensity of the changes in corporate financial performance due to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures as a result of certain relationships between corporate governance and company performance in the non-financial sector. This study selected 625 non-financial companies across six organizations for economic cooperations (OECD) countries' stock markets for the period of 10 years (2012–2021). For this qualitative study, corporate governance, financial performance, and corporate social responsibility score data were collected from the DataStream, a reliable database for examining the research on OECD countries' listed companies. For the data analysis we applied various statistical tools such as regression analysis and moderation analysis. The findings of the study show that all attributes of the corporate governance mechanism, except for audit board attendance, have significant positive impacts on financial performance indicators for all the selected OECD economies except the country France. France's code of corporate governance has a significant negative impact on return on asset (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) due to differences in cultural and operational norms of the country. The audit board attendance has no significant impact on ROA. Moreover, all the attributes except board size (BSIZ) have significant positive impacts on the earnings per share (EPS) in Spain, The United Kingdom (UK) and Belgium. The values obtained from the moderation effect show that Corporate social responsibility is the key factor in motivating corporate governance practices which eventually improves corporate financial performance. However, this study advocated the implications, Investors and stakeholders should consider both corporate governance and CSR disclosures when making investment decisions. Companies that prioritize both governance and CSR tend to have better financial performance and are more likely to mitigate risks. Moreover, the policy makers can improve the code of corporate governance in order to attain sustainable development in the stock market.

Determinants Affecting Internal Audit Effectiveness

This study tries to identify the determinants that affect the effectiveness of internal auditing for listed firms in India. A sample of 300 listed companies was drawn. Questionnaires were mailed to the head of audit department, internal audit managers, internal auditor and head of accounts of each company. The overall response rate was 28.3%. The results were derived by applying multiple regression method and the three determinants turned out to be significant. The three determinants are risk-based planning, usage of Big Data and Analytics, and frequency of meetings of internal auditor (IA) with audit committee (AC) respectively. The model explains 42.8% of variations in the dependent variable (IA effectiveness). The study indeed encourages internal auditors to develop their core skills and competencies in the area of risk assessment and Big Data and Analytics for delivering better services to the auditees, the board of directors and the AC members. The implications of these findings may be of importance to internal audit professionals, accounting professional bodies and the regulators. Direction for future research is also provided.

Implications of COVID-19 Crisis on Risk Management, Audit and Controls Activities

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, entities and internal auditors have to face the new challenges posed by changing ways of working. Internal auditors need to give importance to the analysis of exposure to business risk and the implications for financial reporting. The purpose of the financial reporting system is to produce reporting that is complete, accurate, and transparent. COVID-19 has reinforced the need for efficient remote working, even for control activities. Some of impacted areas refers to: Risk assessment impact, Effective alocation of resources, Key service organizations reliance, Remote access, Execution of controls and monitoring. In the same time as economic activities, the public sector faced also major changes in audit and internal control activities. The need to reduce social interaction during COVID-19 pandemic is changing the way audit and internal control works, with a much greater emphasis on teleworking, working remotely and with more technology dependence. This situation generates a number of advantages but also disadvantages, which are presented in the content of the article. Teleworking increases cyber security risks and may also require additional infrastructure from auditors, but can reduce costs.

Exploration of Environmental Protection-Oriented Ecoenvironmental Performance Audit System

In the era of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, it has become imperative to audit the environment surrounding us to prioritize public health and the healthcare system. This study aims to accelerate the reform of the economic development modes and the construction of a resource-friendly society. The environmental protection-oriented ecoenvironmental performance audit system is studied here. Based on the current situation of regional ecological pollution in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the situation and existing problems are analyzed for the ecoenvironment in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from the perspectives of biodiversity, water ecoenvironment, wetland ecoenvironment, and forest ecoenvironment. Then, the situation is deeply analyzed for the ecoenvironmental performance audit project in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Afterward, we explore the basic characteristics of the environmental audit and summarize the implementation path of resource and environmental audit. The results show that there are some problems in the control and utilization of funds for environmental protection and the development and protection of resources in the cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Then we analyze the problems in the ecoenvironmental performance audit of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and give some suggestions for improving the ecoenvironmental performance audit work. The objective of this paper is to improve the application effect of ecoenvironmental performance audit and provide references for future environmental protection work which will have great impacts on public health and the development of healthcare services.

Center for Audit Quality and Critical Audit Matters: Certified Public Accountant

Center for Audit Quality The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) is a public policy organization formed in 2007 to serve public company auditors and investors. An "Audit in Action" resource (http://www. auditinaction.org) provides highlights of innovations by some of the larger CPA firms, such as Deloitte's "digital transformation" during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by using communication and collaboration tools, Deloitte's audit committee lab, and a cloud-based audit platform. Critical Audit Matters In addition to adapting to the challenges that the COVID-19 environment have brought to the accounting profession in general, auditors have faced one of the most significant changes to the auditor's report in decades.

Impact of audit committee characteristics and external audit quality on firm performance: evidence from India

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of audit committee characteristics and external audit quality on the performance of non-financial public limited companies listed on the National Stock Exchange 100.Design/methodology/approachOne-way random effect panel data regression was applied to 74 non-financial firms in the Nifty 100 from 2014 until 2019. The overall audit committee index and external audit index were built based on the new Indian Companies Act, 2013 and on a review of the literature to capture the impact of the new Act on firm financial performance.FindingsThe outcome of the study revealed that there is lack of evidence to show that audit committee characteristics improve the performance of top Indian non-financial listed firms. However, external audit quality was found to have a significant positive impact on the financial performance of firms as measured by Tobin’s Q, while firm size and leverage were found to have a significant impact on the financial performance of firms as measured by return on assets and return on equity.Practical implicationsThis paper will be greatly beneficial for financial practitioners and policymakers because it provides practical suggestions and recommendations about the types of external audit that are indispensable for the overall effectiveness and performance of firms. The study findings may also aid strategic policy formulation and execution for better corporate governance practices for the purpose of profit and wealth maximisation.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, to date, no previous research has evaluated the effects of audit committee features and external audit quality on the financial performance of firms in India after the implementation of the new Companies Act, 2013. Hence, this study fills this void in the present literature by examining the overall features of the audit committee and external audit and their impact on firm performance in the setting of India.