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Past studies have recognised that a country's accounting system, including disclosure requirements and practice, does not develop in a vacuum but is shaped by a number of influences. Although several studies have been undertaken to identify factors affecting disclosure in various countries including Jordan, disclosure in compliance with all related and relevant International Accounting Standards (IAS), factors influencing disclosure in compliance with IAS and the financial consequences of increased disclosure in compliance with IAS have not been explored. This research therefore has looked at the development of disclosure in compliance with all related and relevant IAS, the factors influencing disclosure in compliance with IAS and the financial consequences of increased disclosure in compliance with IAS in Jordan. The investigation concentrated on the empirical analysis of- 1) The impact of IAS adoption on the Jordanian Industrial Companies (JIC) listed on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) extent of disclosure over the period 1995-2000, and: 2) The impact of five company-specific factors (company size, audit firm, industry type, profitability, and capital structure) on the extent of disclosure in compliance with IAS of JIC overt he period 1995-2000, and: 3) The financial consequences of adopting IAS, more specifically the impact of adopting IAS on systematic risk, unsystematic risk, risk premium, cost of equity capital, and share price volatility of JIC listed on ASE over the period 1996-2000. The development of accounting reporting and regulations in Jordan in connection with the country economy development was reviewed by highlighting the reasons forced toward adopting the IAS through the Companies Act and Amman Stock Exchange requirements. Such a review provides relevant background to the issue to be investigated in this study. A survey of accounts of 50 JIC over the period 1995-2000 was undertaken to investigate the influence of the IAS on the extent of disclosure in Jordan. In this investigation, the selected companies' extent of disclosure in compliance with the IAS over the years was examined by conducting both parametric and nonparametric tests. The impact of company-specific factors, on the other hand, was assessed by looking at the association between selected factors and the extent of disclosure in compliance with IAS in the annual reports of all JIC that met the criteria required over six differenty ears (1995,1996,1997,1998,1999a, nd2 000). Both univariate (parametric and non-parametric statistics) and multivariate( multiple regression) analyses were carried out in testing the significance of the association. As far as the financial consequences are concerned, the study investigated the impact of adopting the IAS on the JIC systematic risk, unsystematic risk, risk premium, cost of equity capital, and share price volatility over five different years (1996,1997,1998,1999, and 2000). For such an investigation, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Market Model were employed. In this investigation, the selected companies' systematic risk, cost of equity capital, and share price volatility over the years was examined by conducting both parametric and non-parametric tests. The selected companies' unsystematic risk, however, was investigated by conducting the F-test. In addition, clearly it could be argued that the change in the cost of equity capital as a financial consequence of adopting the IAS might be influenced by other factors, namely: business risk and financial risk. Multivariate (multiple regression) analyses were carried out, therefore, in testing the significance of the association between the cost of equity capital and the extent of disclosure in compliance with IAS after controlling for the variables business risk and financial risk. The study results revealed that although the adoption for the IAS started in the year 1998, the significant change in the extent of disclosure started before that year. As a consequence, it can be seen that there was a drift up in the extent of disclosure regarding the mandatory action in 1998 for implementing the IAS and not a jump up as was expected to be seen. The study has found that JIC were not fully adopting the IAS. Chosen company specific factors, therefore, were tested for possible explanation of the variation in the extent of disclosure in compliance with IAS. The results revealed that there were considerable variations in the extent of disclosure by JIC for each of the six years covered in this study. Company size and, to a lesser extent, audit firm and industry type appear to be the best explanatory variables in explaining differences in the extent of disclosure in compliance with IAS among JIC included in this study over the period 1995-2000 suggesting that JIC have been influenced by company-specific factors. Regarding the financial consequences of adopting the IAS, however, the systematic risk and cost of equity capital, to some extent, was found to be significantly influenced by the extent of disclosure in compliance with IAS of JIC. Such an influence is described as a'cumulative' influence. Whereas, it has not been found that unsystematic risk, and share price volatility was significantly influenced by the adoption of IAS.

This thesis examines the emergence and rise of audit quality as an object of concern from the post-war period onwards, as manifested in the discourse of regulators, practitioners and academics primarily in the US and the UK. By drawing upon Burchell et al’s (1985) notions of the arena and the constellation, this thesis seeks to investigate the changing nature of the audit quality ‘problem’ and in so doing, reconceptualises the constellation as being dynamic in nature. It puts forward the notions of the emergent constellation, when an altogether new arena becomes formulated through the emergence of a new event or object and the reformation constellation, when an existing field of operations becomes further delineated or differentiated into more distinct arenas. Central to this dynamism is the notion of linkages, and the precise nature of the linking work entailed, which connect together disparate ideas and attach these to the audit quality discourse. Together, this thesis aims to contribute to our understanding of audit quality, the interrelationship between the three arenas of regulation, practice and academia, and of accounting change. Ultimately, this thesis will show that audit quality, a topic of profound and resilient interest, should be understood primarily, and merely, as a basis through which very particular sets of historically contingent concerns and practices are articulated, and that efforts to measure and improve audit quality are fraught with difficulties. Indeed, the attempts to do so play a role in shifting the conceptualisation of the audit quality problem and are consequently, and in this sense, susceptible to continual failure. An alternate interpretation of the importance and meaning of this rise of audit quality, beyond and irrespective of the large scale failures and crises, is an alignment with the trend of economization in society.

This thesis investigates the value relevance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the effect of the financial crisis on European financial firms. The empirical work is divided into two parts. The first part examines the impact of mandatory IFRS adoption and of the financial crisis on the value relevance of accounting information. For a sample of financial firms listed in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland over 1998-2012, the results indicate that the combined value relevance of book value of equity and earnings has increased following mandatory IFRS adoption in 2005, thereby supporting the view that IFRS adoption improves the quality of accounting information. In addition, the findings suggest that the value relevance of book value of equity increases while that of earnings decreases as the financial crisis evolves. Moreover, during the crisis period the value relevance of equity book value appears greater for firms operating in countries with weak institutional environment as well as for firms with weak corporate governance mechanisms. The results are consistent for the whole sample of financial firms and a sub-sample of banks. The second empirical part of this thesis evaluates the value relevance of fair value hierarchy under IFRS 7 that requires firms to classify fair value measurements into three levels based on the valuation inputs. Using a sample of listed financial firms in the EEA and Switzerland over 2009-2012, the results show that the value relevance of level 1 and level 2 fair values is greater than the value relevance of fair values at level 3, although the difference is significant only for level 1. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that the value relevance of level 3 fair values is lower for firms domiciled in countries characterised by a weak institutional environment and for firms with weak corporate governance mechanisms.

This research attempts to measure the degree of trust and its impact and to understand the role of Management Accounting in creating and maintaining trust. According to Zucker (1986) trust consists of three different forms; organisational, process and personal trust. In this thesis it will be shown that trust is a multidimensional construct based on the working definition of Zucker's formulation and further expanded in this research. Several publications on different types of business organisations and other value-adding partnerships consider trust as a pillar for successful operations in an increasingly global competitive environment. Some authors go further and argue that “in the economy trust is nowadays more important than natural resources” and that “trust is the prerequisite for existence and successful control of organisations”. As facilitators of trust, Management Accounting has an impact on and is impacted by the level of trust within a business organisation. The Management Accounting (controlling) function is often associated with the conscience felt in many types of business organisations as it can be seen as a key for the management to make crucial decisions. However, the interaction between trust and Management Accounting has not yet been explored in detail. Therefore, the goal of this research is to identify or construct models, test several hypothesis, find a measurement of trust and to investigate the impact of trust on organisational performance and sustainability. Additionally, this research aims to develop and test new statistical methods to conduct intraorganisational research. To measure trust a questionnaire was developed and piloted. Part of this questionnaire was sociometric to allow the collection of data for social network methods to be applied. This meant that via the flow of communication the role and functioning of management accountants can be identified. This instrument was used in a private and in a public institution. From the analysis it was concluded that a dimension based measure of trust was developed as was a methodology for measurement. This allowed demonstration that as trust increases so does organisational performance. The method also exposed the key role of management accountants in facilitating the flow of trust between CEOs and line managers.

Since 2010, XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) has been widely adopted throughout the world. In 2013, both the HMRC (Inland Revenue) and Companies House in the UK accepted XBRL in the iXBRL (inline XBRL) format. Investors have had to face various issues related to XBRL-reported financial information, such as accuracy and interpretability, as well as potential risks with respect to this new format of financial reporting. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of XBRL on the quality of financial reports and the accounting profession. For this study, a quality index evaluation model was built to examine the quality of financial reports. Over a thousand XBRL and non-XBRL formatted financial reports from three typical XBRL-adopting regions were then evaluated. This study finds that some of the contextual and accessibility qualities of financial reports have been greatly improved after using the XBRL format. However, the issue of accuracy has become more visible in current XBRL filings, due to the smaller and less comprehensive quantity of data stored in such filing systems. Using quality index scoring system, the trained professionals participating in this study confirm that XBRL-formatted financial reports demonstrate a greatly improved searching efficiency. Moreover, these reports generally display a quality superior to non-XBRL formatted financial reports under the designed quality index. More importantly, the quality of XBRL-formatted financial reports uploaded in the same database has been improving year by year. XBRL has not directly affected the accounting profession, being that most companies have outsourced the preparation of XBRL reports. However, it should additionally be noted that the questionnaires and interviews conducted with accountants in XBRL-adopting companies also reveal that these professionals feel increasing pressure both to prepare and to utilise XBRL-formatted financial information internally.

This thesis consists of three essays focusing on three different issues. The first revisits the question whether analysts anticipate the persistence of accruals in future earnings. We find that if total accruals are used (covering also non-current operating and financing accruals, unlike previous research that uses mainly working capital accruals), analysts’ forecast errors are uncorrelated with accruals. Our findings overall do not warrant the lack of sophistication argument. The second chapter examines whether multi segmentation affects the probability of meeting analysts’ forecasts, and whether the ‘diversification’ discount that multi segment firms seem to suffer from is alleviated/exacerbated when multi segment firms meet/miss analysts’ forecasts. We find for multi segment firms, no (less) earnings/forecast management to meet forecasts, more complex information environment, lower probability of meeting analysts’ forecasts, and weaker investor reaction to meeting/missing forecasts, while significant discount if they meet forecasts by engaging in earnings/forecast management. The third chapter examines whether unconditional accounting conservatism provides a rational explanation to book to price (B/P) effect in stock returns (higher B/P yielding higher returns) coined as anomaly. We test an argument following Penman and Reggiani (2013) linking conservative accounting to future returns and subsequent earnings growth, and we find strong support to the conservative accounting explanation to B/P effect.

This study is concerned with sustainability and stakeholder engagement practices in the palm oil and mining sectors in Malaysia after they received accumulated pressure from dominant stakeholders, such as NGOs and the local community. It considers how the companies in the two sectors strategically adopt and follow stakeholder engagement practices through alliance and collaboration with the state so as to secure their legitimacy. The study also highlights the role of power differentials among the companies, the state and civil society in enforcing the companies’ sustainability behaviour change. As such, it provides an in-depth analysis of the organisational practice of stakeholder engagement by looking at the political economy and social context. This study takes an in-depth case study approach using 45 interviews with companies, the state and the civil society, supported by analysis of publicly available information. Through a Bourdieusian theoretical lens, this study explores the sustainability field in Malaysia to understand the stakeholder engagement from multiple viewpoints in addressing the stakeholders’ conflict and power dynamics. The sustainability field in this research is an arena of social practice wherein key actor such as the company, the state and civil society are positioned with certain interests. All forms of social engagement in this field are analysed in terms of their particular logic of practice. The study found that the stakeholder engagement made by the companies with the support of the state sought to naturalise the view that the companies’ operation is not harmful to the environment and the society. The companies collaborate and ally with the state to promote their economic interests. The companies gain power and domination conferred by the state through these partnerships in achieving economic benefits, which then, create symbolic violence. As a result, stakeholder engagement does not seem to solve the sustainability controversy.

This study examines the whistle-blowing decisions of government internal auditors in response to individual and collective corruption occurring within government internal audit units. An auditor is simultaneously a role-prescribed and non-role-prescribed whistle-blower that may behave hypocritically. On the one hand, auditors may be intolerant of and report any corruption taking place within their audit clients. On the other hand, they may display an unwillingness to blow the whistle on corruption committed by their fellow auditors in which they and the recipients of whistle-blowing information may be a part of or beneficiaries of the wrongdoing. To examine how, why and what factors influence their whistle-blowing decisions, we utilised two approaches: the whistle-blowing intentions through the use of case scenarios and actual wwhistleblowing relying on the self-reported cases. Mixed methods of surveys, interviews and focus group discussions were conducted in seven government internal audit units. Seeing whistle-blowing as a constructive behaviour for the benefit of the organisation involving an ethical dilemma, we integrated the prosocial organisational behaviour and ethical decision-making perspectives of whistle-blowing to develop a three-phases of whistle-blowing decision. In phase 1, the potential whistle-blowers evaluated the wrongfulness and the seriousness of the wrongdoing in accordance with their ethical sensitivity and evaluated the existence of responsibility to act to stop the wrongdoing. In phase 2, they evaluated the organisation responsiveness and the existence of the demoralising situation. In phase 3, they assessed their personal responsibility, identified alternative decisions according to his/her ethical competence, calculated the cost and the benefit of each alternative and decide to blow or not to blow the whistle depended on their ethical perseverance. The study demonstrates that ethical judgement, moderated by the perceived seriousness and organisational commitment, significantly influenced the whistle-blowing intentions. while taking the ethical climate, wrongdoer’s power status and whistle-blower’s job level into consideration. The study found the domination of informal hidden values instead of formal written values and the occurrence of the process of normalisation of corruption that led to the destructive act of silence. They reduced the ethical sensitivity towards the wrongfulness and the seriousness of the corruption, diffused the responsibility to blow the whistle and created the demoralising situation. The organisations were not responsive. The whistle-blowing information was ignored and leaders often promoted an attitude of silent acquiescence by rewarding silent observers. The risk of whistle-blowing appeared greater than the expected benefit of being a submissive silent observer. When whistle-blowing information was eventually received, leaders rectified the problem informally outside of official procedures. The rules were upheld only when there was external pressure on the leaders. Through this, the wrongdoer will feel secure and the whistle-blower will perceive that the act of whistleblowing is not acceptable. The combination of the unwillingness to blow the whistle and the process of the normalisation of organisational corruption may create a vicious cycle of corruption in and by organisations. On the contrary, whistle-blowing occurred when the potential whistle-blowers perceived that the act of whistle-blowing is a constructive behaviour supported by the organisation’s culture and leadership. Whistle-blowing legislation alone may not be sufficient to motivate employees to blow the whistle particularly in Indonesia where in-group collectivism and power distance are relatively high.