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The paper examines the extent of corporate disclosure in the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) reports of companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. A sample of 55 companies is taken, and based on the disclosure checklist containing 52 information items, the extent of disclosure is measured both at the aggregate level and with respect to different reporting areas of the MD&A report. It is found that average level of aggregate disclosure is 64.8%, which is moderately high. The maximum disclosure score is 90% and minimum 25%. The variation in the extent of disclosure among the sample companies is measured by range and standard deviation, which are 65% and 11.2%, respectively. As far as disclosure in specific areas of the MD&A report is concerned, a few companies have made 100% disclosure in respect of industry structure and development, risk and concern, and segment reporting, while some have made no disclosure about outlook information. The overall results suggest that there exists scope for improving the quality of disclosure in MD&A reports of Indian companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goods and Services Tax (GST) completed its four years in July 2021. It was expected that by implementing GST in the country, the governments (Central and States) would be able to solve many tax-related problems such as tax evasion, cascading effect, increasing competition among states for inviting investment, and most importantly increasing states' tax revenue, more autonomy and expenditure. Has the imposition of GST in India impacted the tax revenue of states? Has the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic impacted the GST of all the states and union territories? The paper deals with these specific questions constituting a sample of all states and some union territories for the period 2015 to 2021 categorized into pre-GST (2015-2017) and post-GST (2017-2021) period. The secondary data comprises average proportion of own tax revenue of states in their total revenue, and the data has been analyzed to find out whether imposition of GST has impacted the collection of own tax revenue of states, and whether the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the collection of SGST and UTGST of states and union territories. The tools and techniques applied for testing the hypothesis are Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test, paired t-test and Kruskal-Wallis H-test. The findings reveal that imposition of GST has no significant impact on own tax revenue of states, but Covid-19 significantly impacted SGST and UTGST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the effect of eleven Audit Committee (AC) characteristics on Firm Performance (FP). It identifies characteristics that significantly influence FP and develops an index to provide a holistic approach to the relationship between AC effectiveness and FP. It applies cross-sectional time-series FGLS regression and checks robustness using panel-corrected standard error regression after identifying heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, and cross-sectional dependence of 375 observations. The study finds a significant positive effect of AC expertise, attendance in AC meetings, and the absence of executive directors in AC on both Return on Assets (ROA) and market capitalization of the firms. Gender diversity is exclusively significant for ROA, while shareholding positively impacts firm's market capitalization. This study is the first to use some new individual AC characteristics like the absence of executive directors in AC and AC charter and representation of AC members in board meetings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the different aspects of corporate tax in India. Apart from discussing the historical background and reviewing the relevant literature, efforts have been made to analyze certain significant structural aspects of corporate tax in India. The study involves an extensive review of literature and analysis of secondary data obtained from government records. The findings indicate that corporate tax contributes a significant portion of the total direct tax revenue of the government and even exceeds the share of personal income taxes in recent years. In 2020-21, however, revenue generation from corporate tax was less than the revenue collected from personal income taxes due to the Covid-19 pandemic and reduced corporate tax rates for certain domestic companies. The buoyancy coefficients calculated for corporate tax and personal income tax (in response to changes in GDP) indicated that these coefficients were generally greater for personal income tax than for corporate tax. Therefore, there is ample scope for enhancing corporate tax revenue through further simplification of tax laws and procedures, rationalization of rates and effective check on evasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, Goods and Services Tax (GST), introduced on July 1, 2017, has immensely affected the functioning and financial performance of different manufacturing companies. DuPont analysis model is used in this paper for scrutinizing the essential financial performance of such companies. It is an expedient system for decomposing the different drivers of Return on Equity (ROE) that help investors to focus on the key financial aspects, demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of different companies. The study empirically analyzes the impact of GST on the financial performance of selected manufacturing companies in India, using five-step DuPont model, whereby the Net Income Margin has been brokendown to demonstrate how tax and interest affect ROE, considering financial performance before and after implementation of GST. Moreover, statistical tools like mean, standard deviation, paired correlation, matrix paired t-test and ANOVA test have been used to analyze the data and justify the objectives of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the lesser researched area of possible association between promoter equity ownership and dividend policy. Firms in India have concentrated ownership of promoters and thus, promoters may influence the firm's various decisions, including its dividend policy. The paper tests the relation between the promoter ownership and dividend payment, after controlling several firm characteristics such as size, return on assets, cash ratio and leverage. Based on panel data of Nifty 100 firms from March 2011 to March 2019, evidence for a positive relation between the promoter's equity ownership and dividend payment is provided. The results are in line with the reputation building hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that the positive relation between promoter ownership and dividend payout is a result of reputation building mechanism such that firms intend to send a positive signal to the market and investors that they are not expropriating the rights of minority shareholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the impact of Domestic Institutional Ownership (DIO) upon firm performance in India using panel data for NSE 500 companies from 2010 to 2016. The study finds DIO to have a positive impact on Tobin's Q in panel regressions-fixed effects after using controls such as firm age, size, leverage, marketing intensity, foreign institutional ownership and promoter ownership. The study also tests the impact of Mutual Fund Ownership (MFO) and the impact of Banks, Development Financial Institutions (DFI), Insurance companies' (BFII) ownership separately and found MF has a positive impact on Tobin's Q. The study observed that all variables DIO, MF and BFII had no impact on Return on Assets (ROA) but BFII is found to have a negative impact on Return on Equity (ROE). The study found a positive impact of Mutual Funds (MFs) and a negative impact of 'Banks, FIs and Insurance companies' on firm performance in India. The paper contributes to the empirical literature on institutional ownership and firm performance in emerging economies. It has important implications for firms, investors, corporate policy makers and researchers particularly, in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the meager evidence on currency exposure of Indian companies. It addresses three research questions. What is the long-term currency exposure (FX Equity Beta) of listed firms in India? Does it show cross-sectional variation in firms and variation across industries? Is it time varying? With NSE 100 firms, currency exposure of equity returns to US Dollar (USD) is estimated at portfolio and firm levels for the period 2001-2016, and also for two sub-periods 2001-2008 and 2008-2016. Robustness of the estimates is verified using Composite Exchange Rate (CER). Long-term FX Equity Beta of Indian firms is negative and time varying, and varies across industries and firms. This evidence is contrary to the thinking that currency depreciation is good for emerging economies. The forex beta of the equity portfolio of NSE 100 firms to USD (CER) is -1.352 (-1.352), for 2001-2016; -1.718 (-1.704) for 2001-2008, and -1.283 (-1.256) for 2008-2016. Mean firm level FX Equity Beta on USD (CER) is -1.601 (-1.551) for 2001-2016; -2.078 (-1.875) for 2001-2008, and -1.667 (-1.803) for 2008-2016. Mean FX Equity Beta on USD (CER) of financial services firms is -2.221 (-2.215) and that of IT firms is -0.47 (-0.56). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism industry has been defined as one of the largest and fastest growing industries. This industry is also considered to be one of the ancient industries of the world. Tourism industry in India is experiencing a boom at the moment. India has tremendous potential to become a major global tourist destination and Indian tourism industry is exploiting this potential to the hilt. A state like Rajasthan has all the elements to become a model state for tourism in the country. It has a rich cultural heritage and the tourists from all over the world visit it due to its climate, scenic beauty and ecological resources. The statistical figures reveal that Rajasthan gets the lion's share of total tourist arrivals, both foreign and domestic, due to its special climate and culture. The present paper assesses the impact of tourism demand on the economic development of Rajasthan. The paper measures the economic development of Rajasthan in terms of Gross State Domestic Product. It assesses the impact of tourism on various developmental activities. Various statistical techniques such as correlation, regression and neural network are used to measure the relation between these two factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian companies have participated in the worldwide trend of consolidation through cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). During the last decade, there has been a sharp and consistent increase in the number of M&As in India. The paper explores the impact of cross-border M&A on firm performance and financial distress of selected cases in India from diverse sectors. The motive is to get a clear understanding as to whether the cross-border M&As actually lead to improvement in growth, profitability and efficiency of Indian corporate firms, and also whether it helps in reducing their financial distress. For this purpose, the paper has focused on a sample of nine large cross-border M&As in India from different sectors. It is found that these M&As have been effective in improving the firm performance and financial distress in some cases, whereas it has led to increased distress and reduced performance in others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public sector passenger road transport services in India have been established with the aim of providing economical, adequate and sustainable services to the commuters. It is a well-known fact that State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) have become nonprofitable and are a heavy burden on government exchequers. In this context, SRTUs cannot be sustained unless they adopt a professional approach through policy initiatives. The paper examines the growth performance of three SRTUs in West Bengal, India. The objective is to identify the factors and investigate their operational implications for service cost and revenue of selected SRTUs. The results reveal that the annual income of the corporations was not sufficient to meet even half of the annual operating costs and that there exists a significant difference in the performance patterns of the selected SRTUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounting education today not only requires upgradation of curriculum but also trained and qualified teachers, proper facilities to nurture the growth of the students and development of relevant skills. Therefore, gaps in four aspects, namely, the faculty and teaching methods, curriculum, facilities provided in the institutions and skills imparted in the institutions, have been identified exclusively from the students’ point of view. Chi-square anaysis is used to test the association between the type of institution and the perceptions regarding various aspects of accounting education. The paper highlights the highest gap that exists between the perceptions and expectations of students and the skills imparted in institutions. Further, it is found that there is no association between the type of institutions and the gaps in skills. All types of institutions are found to be lacking in providing training or imparting skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate governance ensures adoption of fair accounting practices and transparency in financial reporting system. It defines the accountability of managers and acts as a deterrent to earnings management. The present paper examines the relationship of corporate governance characteristics (board, audit committee and ownership structure) with earnings management in India. The study examines earnings management practices of BSE 500 index companies for five financial years from 2012-13 to 2016-17. Discretionary accruals are used as a proxy for earnings management, calculated with the help of cross-sectional modified Jones model by Dechow et al. (1995). The results of panel data regression suggest that attendance of board meetings by independent directors and presence of women directors on board significantly reduce earnings management. Concentrated promoters' shareholding positively and significantly influences earnings management. The paper further strives to investigate the influence of independence of audit committee on earnings management with firm's profitability as a moderating variable. The results reveal that audit committee independence is more effective in constraining earnings management in firms with high profitability than their less profitable counterparts. The findings of the study give useful insight for regulators, policymakers and company boards in taking appropriate measures to increase the quality of financial reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews research on the linkages between select demographic and behavioral variables and customer perception of the banking service quality in the face of commercial bank mergers in India and seeks to identify gaps in the current body of knowledge which justify future research directions. The impact of bank mergers on customer service quality has attracted a great deal of attention during the last two to three decades in view of the ongoing consolidation of the Indian banking sector with a view to improving its efficiency and profitability. Using Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method, the study reviews papers from 37 refereed journals and other books published on the subject. Detailed content analysis reveals that most of the research is empirical and identifies brand equity, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and innovative ability, among others, as the major factors influencing the customer perception (marketing implications of commercial bank mergers) of service quality of commercial banks in India in the face of mergers. In conclusion, the study found that demographic and behavioral variables and customer perception of the quality of service of the merging commercial banks in India are related and the bank managements must give due importance to the segmental differences while formulating their marketing strategies if they have to be successful in the emerging competitive commercial banking scenario of India. Future research may be carried out taking larger and more diversified samples of bank customers to generalize the research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoters play a very important role in the performance of companies. In India, the average holding of promoters is very large at around 54%. These promoters are either government or private individuals and business houses. India started the privatization process in a big way in the early 1990s and also started disinvesting stakes in major public sector companies, while retaining a minimum of 51% stake in a majority of companies, in effect keeping the control. The paper with an objective to study whether there exists a significant difference in the performance of government promoted firms and private firms and found a significant difference in the performance between them using both independent sample t-test and pooled panel data regression. The paper is based on the data of public listed companies in India over a period of 11 years (2008-2019). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the trade-off between audit efforts and audit risk post implementation of IFRS and its impact on audit fees for selected publicly listed nonfinancial Indian firms. The sample consisted of 750 firm-year observations from the nonfinancial companies listed on Bombay Stock Exchange from FY2009-10 through FY2018-19. We used the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) regression model in a panel framework and ensured robustness by introducing observant variables. The study found a significant decrease in the audit fee growth in the post-IFRS period, which was justified by the trade-off between audit efforts and audit risk. Further, the study found that improved disclosure, accounting quality, and auditor rotation negatively impacted audit fees. Auditor expertise was found to significantly increase audit fees. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the association between IFRS and audit fees by critically examining the trade-off between audit efforts and audit risk post FRS implementation in emerging countries. The findings of our study have significant implications not only for the upcoming phases of mandatory IFRS implementation in India but also for emerging and developing economies that intend to mandate IFRS. The firms intending voluntary adoption of IFRS can also use this study to make informed decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper evaluates the effect of Working Capital Management (WCM) on firm profitability of selected textile companies in India. The study is based on secondary data collected by CMIE from the companies’ annual reports for the years 2011-2020. Regression analysis is used on a panel sample of 98 companies from India’s Bombay Stock Exchange. Various financial ratios related to Working Capital (WC) and profitability and panel data techniques like Fixed Effect Model, Random Effect Model and Hausman test, etc. are also used. The results showed that WCM has a significant impact on a firm’s profitability in the textile sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raising funds from banks, financial institutions, or any other sources has always been a very typical task, but now entrepreneurs can raise money on digital platforms through crowdfunding. "How can I raise funds on crowdfunding platforms?" is the most common question among entrepreneurs. Searching for the right crowd is a very difficult task for entrepreneurs. The main objective of the paper is to understand the meaning of the right crowd, identify the factors affecting the selection and study the status of crowdfunding in India. The term "selecting the right crowd" refers to approaching an audience that is regarded as appropriate for the project's requirements. For the study, data was collected from 191 respondents and analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software. As per Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), the scale consisted of five factors: Technological Knowledge, Perceived Trust, Perceived Risk, Peer Influence and Crowdfunding Experience with 19 items. Discriminant Validity, Convergent Validity and Reliability were checked. Lastly, as per Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), it was understood that the obtained values confirmed the five factors of the scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the impact of Destination Image (DI), Perceived Risk (PR), Tourist Constraints (TC), and Tourist Attitude (TA) on Intention to Travel (IT) during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. The respondents are prospective travelers, and the sampling used is purposive. Data was collected through an online questionnaire. A seven-point Likert scale was used ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" with midpoint as "neutral". The study uses the primary data collected through an online questionnaire from 329 valid respondents. Path analysis and bootstrapping procedure are employed to establish the relationship between the variables and to examine the hypotheses, respectively, using Smart PLS version 3.3.3. The results state that the tourists will consider the Physical Risk (PHR) before visiting any destination and TA will play a key role in decision making in terms of traveling to a destination. The relationships between Affective Image (AI) and Cognitive Image (CI) with TA and IT, TC with IT and PHR with TA are positive. Other relationships between PHR, Financial Risk (FR) and PR with IT, FR and PR with TA, and TA with IT are negative. The critical analysis can be useful for tourism service providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical study on two leading steel manufacturing companies of India, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), a public sector undertaking, and Tata Steel Limited, the largest private sector company, aims at predicting bankruptcy or financial distress, using Altman's Z-Score model which is based on several financial ratios. This research paper also investigates the long-term solvency position of the sample companies, by the use of a common technique of common-size analysis along with six solvency ratios in conjunction with the statistical technique of hypothesis testing. The Student's t-test is carried out to examine the significance of difference in the various mean solvency ratios of SAIL and Tata Steel. The paper finally offers some relevant suggestions for improving the solvency position of the selected companies and also to be stay away from bankruptcy or financial distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the growing importance of mutual fund investment in academic and industrial research, the paper aims at answering a question of paramount importance, i.e. Does recategorization affect mutual fund investment? An unmatched sample t-test was conducted to compare the pre- and post-categorization among the large, mid, and small-cap firms based on three variables: liquidity, volatility, and returns. The results of the t-test postulate that the liquidity of large-cap firms and returns of the small-cap firms were significantly different for both periods of study. In contrast, all other variables remain indifferent across both periods. Overall, the study contributes to the literature and practice by providing meaningful pre- and post-categorization insights. The study provides important insights for mutual fund managers to understand the correct effect of re-categorization on market efficiency. The study provides transparency for future research in the field of mutual fund investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature shows that monitoring the effect of concentrated ownership has a positive impact on firm value. However, the economic channel of such a positive impact has not been examined. This study offers a possible economic channel and tests it empirically using a panel of Indian firms. The hypothesis of the paper is that concentrated ownership increases the competitiveness of the firms, through efficient monitoring of their activities, in their product markets, thus increasing the growth rate of firms. The results show that both institutional and promoter ownership have a positive impact on firm competitiveness. However, foreign concentration has an insignificant impact. Moreover, for business group-affiliated firms, only institutional concentration has a positive impact. The results remain robust for different specifications and endogeneity issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews the literature on accounting conservatism and its different dimensions. In literature, accounting conservatism is classified into two classes, namely, conditional accounting conservatism and unconditional accounting conservatism. Accounting conservatism plays an important role in shaping the corporate governance of any firm. It also interacts with other dimensions like board structure and ownership structure to decide the firm level of corporate governance. Board structure and accounting conservatism act as a substitute to each other. Accounting conservatism literature mainly focuses on advanced or developed nations, while research on emerging nations needs more attention. As there are institutional differences between advanced and emerging nations, the results generated from advanced nations cannot be generalized for the emerging nations. There are many unattended research gaps in the context of emerging nations like India, where ownership structure is concentrated and business group affiliation is a rule rather than exception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper intends to measure the effects of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&As) on the stock prices and Financial Performance (FP) of the acquirer banks in India. A list of 28 M&As concerning acquirer banks registered on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), is used in this study. Event study analysis is used to gauge the outcome of M&As announcement on the market price of the banking company's share, which measures the wealth creation of acquiring firm's shareholders. DuPont (DP) analysis is used for the purpose of analyzing the FP of merged firm, but it failed to show any significant impact post merger in terms of Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), net-profit margin, financial leverage and asset turnover. The fallouts designate that the market reacted negatively towards the M&As in banking sector of India, and also show a corrosion in the performances of the acquirer banks in the post-merger period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the impact of liquidity on the profitability of Nifty Pharma Index (NSE India) listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) India. Liquidity is represented by current and quick ratios with working capital. In an attempt to measure the profitability, various factors like Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), sales, Return on Total Assets (ROTA) and Profit Before Tax (PBT) have been utilized. With a view to establishing the linear relationship between liquidity and profitability, a multiple regression model was used to analyze the statistical samples of Indian pharmaceuticals companies for a period of five years from 2012 to 2016. On the basis of overall analysis, it is therefore important to state that Current Ratio (CR) has a positive impact on ROCE, whereas Quick Ratio (QR) has a positive impact on ROTA. Sales is the strongest predictor of working capital. Hence, an unusual relationship between liquidity and profitability has been observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Human Resource (HR) disclosure in annual report is voluntary in nature in India. Therefore, it creates inconsistency in the HR disclosure practices across companies as well as industries. The purpose of the present paper is to look at the nature and level of HR disclosure and study the effect of company characteristics on HR disclosure in annual reports of public sector companies in India. This research is motivated by the dearth of studies on HR disclosure among companies in developing countries. Initially, an 86-item Human Resource Disclosure Index (HRDI) has been constructed for a set of 500 companies listed on National Stock Exchange. From that point onward, the effect of various explanatory variables on HRDI is analyzed. Finally, HRDI has been regressed against the independent variables to find the important elements of HRDI. The outcomes of the descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multivariate analysis reveal that the total number of pages of annual report is positively associated with HR disclosure. Company size and profitability are partly associated, while other variables like leverage, ownership concentration, liquidity and globalization have no association with HR disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial inclusion and inclusive growth are indispensable for the economic growth of a nation. Financial resources need to be distributed equitably to the unreached and poor sections of the society who have limited access to banking facilities. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is a policy initiative of the Government of India in this direction. In this paper, an attempt is made to understand the extent of financial inclusion through banking activities in India post implementation of PMJDY considering banking growth and resultant financial inclusion by means of major banking variables such as deposits and credits of banks in India before 2014 and after 2014 (the year of implementation of PMJDY). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dividend policy contributes significantly to the company's performance as well as its survival and growth. Formulation of such policy is a challenging task to the firm as it conveys positive signal about the company to its investors. In India, the impact of dividend announcement has been examined extensively, but its impact on the service sector companies is relatively unobserved. The purpose of this study is to conduct a detailed and systematic review of dividend announcement and analyze the effect of dividend announcement on stock prices of the service providing companies listed on National Stock Exchange of India. The study employs the event study methodology with an event window of 31 days. The study is carried out for a period ranging from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019. The findings of the study revealed that the stock prices react towards the dividend announcement event of the companies and thus there is a significant impact of dividend announcement on the stock prices during the event window which led to generation of abnormal returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of information provided in annual reports depends upon many factors. A large number of studies identified various factors that influence Financial Reporting Quality (FRQ) such as ownership structure, financing pattern, domestic and foreign listing of shares, diversity in management, audit committee and board structure. One of the important factors which influence FRQ and has not been explored much in accounting literature is legal and regulatory environment of a country. Very few studies have focused on the impact of legal and regulatory environment on FRQ. This paper is an attempt to examine the impact of change in legal statute on FRQ of Indian companies by examining the annual reports of S&P CNX Nifty companies before and after the enactment of the new Companies Act 2013. The results show that there is no significant improvement in most of the elements in FRQ which may indicate lack of interpretation of new regulations or lack of strict implementation of rules. This may also implicate that policy makers should bring more clarity to current regulations, assigning responsibility to relevant authorities for proper implementation of rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the global market, the footwear industry has emerged as one of the fastest budding industries. India is the second largest footwear supplier in the worldwide market after China and the largest consumer of footwear. The paper scrutinizes the impact of Capital Structure (CAPS) on Profitability (prof) of nine footwear companies in India listed on BSE for nine years (2010-2011 to 2018-2019) by panel data regression analysis. The study finds no impact of Long-term Debt to Total Assets (LDTA) on ROA and ROE, which are used as a measure of prof. However, the study finds a significant impact of TAX (as a % of EBIT) on both ROA and ROE. The study employed pooled panel data regression model, fixed effect and random effect. Based on the Hausman test, the study finds the fixed effect model as the best model for both ROE and ROA as the dependent variables. It is concluded that in the case of the footwear industry in India, there is no impact of CAPS on firm's prof. The moderate and negative relationships between the variables are evident from the correlation analysis. This study is helpful for investors, lenders, managers, etc. Managers can decide the optimum capital structure, keeping in mind the profitability as interest on the debt is tax-deductible. However, beyond a certain point, it may reduce profitability due to the increase in perceived risk. Managers should maintain the balance between long-term and short-term debt to maintain the overall profitability (prof). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Value-based accounting has significant impact on financial reporting of organizations. Value-based accounting distinguishes itself from traditional cost-based accounting by including the future outlook. This paper attempts to provide the present scenario of valuebased accounting with respect to Indian industries. It also attempts to apply the valueadded model in Indian industry to understand the relation of value addition with book value of net profits. It tries to measure the performance of organizations on the basis of different value-based accounting. Using the data of organizations included in the BSE 100 index for the year 2009, the paper identifies the contribution of variables belonging to income and expenses to value addition of the organization through regression analysis. It is found that Economic Value-Added (EVA) of Indian organizations is always lower than the accounting profit. However, most of the organizations in India have positive Market Value-Added (MVA). But the continuance of negative EVA in future would also result in negative MVA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Borrower over-indebtedness is considered to be a serious risk faced by the microfinance industry globally (CSFI, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to examine whether microfinance participation causes over-indebtedness. Over-indebtedness is identified using the World Bank (WB) estimated poverty line of $1.90 per day. The study uses quantitative methodology using survey design covering 210 borrowing households located in two districts in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. It is observed that about 29% of the sample respondents are over-indebted. The results of binomial logistic regression show that microfinance participation does not cause over-indebtedness, and at less than 10% significance level, it brings down the odds of a borrowing household being over-indebted. The key drivers of over-indebtedness are non-MFI borrowing and low household income. The study points to the need to implement income generation schemes before credit distribution schemes as instruments of social policy. From a borrower protection point of view, it also points to the need for regulating informal credit sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounting is the lingua franca of business. In India, financial statements are guided by certain set of principles and concepts. In order to maintain uniformity, the accounting standards in India are issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in consultation with NACAS. The ICAI, recognizing the need to harmonize the diverse accounting policies and practices in use in India, constituted the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) on April 21, 1977. According to ICAI,1 "The composition of the ASB is fairly broad-based and ensures participation of all interest-groups in the standard-setting process." However, with the fast changing economy, liberalization, increasing foreign investment in the country, it has become now necessary for India to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). International Accounting Standards are issued by IASB, which was established in 1993; now known as IASC, it issues IFRS time to time to bring uniformity globally. In India, it is mandatory to comply with IFRS by 2011. Though there will be adoption of IFRS in a phased manner and an initiative has been taken by various professional bodies to organize training programs and seminars for imparting knowledge and creating awareness about IFRS, but the process of transformation is not as smooth and easy as it appears. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to find out up to what extent IFRS has been adopted by the organizations, what challenges and opportunities companies are facing regarding IFRS, and what are the measures that can be taken to make the process smooth and flawless. The paper focuses on the awareness and adoption of IFRS in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing concern among all sections of the society and also among different stakeholders of corporate society about the need for conserving and protecting the environment. Hence, the thinking is gaining ground about the need for each corporate citizen to account for the extent to which it has caused environmental degradation and also the efforts made by the corporate entity towards the environmental protection and welfare. In this background, environment accounting is receiving importance world over. Even in India, a few guidelines have been issued by the authorities. However, the current regulations are not adequate and therefore, there is a diversity in the environmental accounting and disclosure practices. Further, two important powerful players in this regard are the academicians and the professionals. In this backdrop, the present paper makes an attempt to analyze the opinions of both the academicians and professionals about a few aspects of environmental accounting and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, many highly leveraged companies in Indian corporate sector followed the route of disposal of their non-core assets to reduce the debt burden. 'Non-core assets' means the assets not used in core business operations. The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework about the non-core assets, its relevance and fill the gap in disclosure requirement in companies' financial statements in this regard. Existing disclosure requirements limit the information availability regarding the holding of non-core assets on the face of the balance sheet statement as well as in notes to accounts. The paper using the existing literature, in addition to information available in Revised Schedule VI to the Companies Act 1956 and Indian Accounting Standards 1, 6 and 10, finds that disposal of non-core assets during the turbulent times are one of the common practices. However, there are lacunas in the disclosure requirements regarding the noncore assets in company's financial statements. The findings of the present study may attract the attention of various users of financial statements and may form the base for revising the disclosure norms in this regard to bring greater transparency. The study is a pioneering attempt to examine the possibility of showing each class of fixed tangible asset under the heads 'core assets' and 'non-core assets' to facilitate better decision making and compliance with the conventional wisdom of transparency, corporate governance and full disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing globalization and integration of capital markets, the world is fast adopting a single language of financial reporting, i.e., International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). More than 100 countries have adopted IFRS and many others have given their consent to adopt IFRS in the near future. India is in line to converge with IFRS. This paper investigates the impact of IFRS adoption on financial activities of Indian companies by using a sample of eight companies for three years, 2010-11 to 2012-13. The study considers four areas of financial activity, i.e., financial risks, investment activities, operating activities and debt covenants. The results reveal that the financial indicators, investment activities and operating activities have been significantly affected by the adoption of IFRS, while financial risks and debt covenants fail to show a statistically significant impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The much-hyped tax structure, Goods and Service Tax (GST) was recently introduced. The Government of India took the decision to implement GST on July 1, 2017. This affects every citizen and raises various concerns amongst consumers towards GST implementation. The present paper aims to examine the level of consumer awareness and the perception they have towards GST implementation in India. Additionally, the study attempts to suggest some measures to the government for effective GST implementation. Questionnaire method has been used for primary data collection. The consumers of National Capital Region (NCR) region are the sample audience. The level of awareness for GST implementation has been examined based on Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, descriptive analysis and Spearman's correlation. The perception towards its acceptance is examined based on descriptive analysis. The findings reveal that demographic factors are not significantly correlated to the level of awareness. Consumers have a high level of basic awareness. Promotional activities are not insufficient, but awareness programs should be increased which is moderately accepted. Overall, the implementation of GST is highly accepted by the consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the association between a firm's R&D spending and its future returns. Unlike the US firms, which can only expense R&D, Australian GAAP permits firms to either expense or capitalize their R&D expenditure. India is following Ind AS 38 which requires research expenditure to be recognized as expense and development expenditure to be recognized as an intangible asset if, and only if specified criteria are met, otherwise shall be recognized as an expense. Hence, Indian setting provides for the use of both methods of accounting either expenser or capitalizer. However, less research is available that relates R&D spending of a firm to its future returns. The present study tries to find out the relationship between R&D expenditure and its future returns for R&D active Indian firms. The study is based on 15 years (2001-2015) CMIE data selected from those companies which have R&D activities during the span of the sample period. The market impact of the R&D intensity of all R&D active firms, 'capitalizer's and 'expenser's has been examined separately. The results suggest that capitalized portion of R&D is capable of generating more future returns. Expensed portion of R&D is not strongly associated with future holding period returns. However, it is observed that the firms who expensed their total R&D expenditures perform better in comparison to the firms who capitalized their total R&D expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) set by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are adopted by the companies for the preparation of the financial statements. This ensures easy understanding and facilitates comparability of the financial statements of different enterprises of different countries and provides relevant and meaningful information to the various users of the financial statements. In India, the new set of standards which have been converged with IFRS is known as Indian Accounting Standards or Ind AS and will be implemented in India in a phased out manner (Phase 1, 2 and 3) as have been notified by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on February 25, 2011. The recent announcement made by the Finance Minister in the year 2015 made it mandatory for all the listed companies either to adopt IFRS or converge with effect from the accounting year 2016-17. IFRS is recommended for adoption with several benefits in mind and some of the companies have already adopted new standards and have started reporting accordingly. In this context, the present paper presents an overview of double adoption of IFRS globally by the significant trade forums and the Indian companies which are voluntarily adopting IFRS. It also analyzes the financial implications of adoption of IFRS by the select companies in India. The study is based on secondary data, and Gray comparability index, t-test and F-test are employed for analyzing the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct taxation is a major instrument for revenue mobilization and becomes essential for sustainable economic development. India, being a large and rapidly emerging economy, has very strict laws regarding taxation. But still the government has to face a serious threat to revenue mobilization in the form of tax evasion and avoidance. Therefore, the government introduced some income disclosure schemes and, recently, opted for demonetization of larger denomination currency notes, to keep a check on tax evasion, and thereby on black money. Therefore, in the present paper research questions were raised to explore the awareness regarding tax evasion in India, its prevalent methods and the factors causing tax evasion in India. For that purpose, a purposive sample consisting of chartered accountants and article assistants was chosen. A structured pre-tested questionnaire was distributed to collect data. Apart from the methods of tax evasion in India, the respondents were also asked to show their agreement or disagreement on a fivepoint Likert scale regarding the ethical reasons given by tax evaders to justify their actions and to state their agreement or disagreement regarding the various perceptions on tax evasion. The findings reveal that although the respondents agreed that it is ethical to pay tax, their clients evade taxes due to bad governance and high level of tax-illiteracy to some extent. The existence of dishonest tax administrators within the system also contributed to tax evading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stabilization and Structural Adjustment Program of 1991 has brought unprecedented changes in the Indian economy. The post policy initiatives resulted in the abolition of licensing policy, de-reserving the areas for the participation of private entities, disinvestment of government investments in public sector organizations, opening up of the Indian economy for global players in various sectors, disintermediation in the financial markets, reducing the role of public financial institutions, and the emergence of newgeneration private sector banks. This paper examines the impact of the entry of newgeneration private sector banks on the performance of public sector banks, by analyzing 29 performance-related ratios for 12 years (2004-05 to 2015-16), relating to these banking groups, to determine whether there is any significant difference in their performance. The results indicate that new-generation private sector banks are able to show better performance by judiciously sourcing the funds either from public/market at a cheaper rate of interest and deploying them on deserving assets at less operational costs. The competition warranted the public sector banks to improve their performance, to comply with the profitability considerations and as well realize the social obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The farm accounting practice in India is said to be in its infant stage. This paper seeks to examine the rationale for a full-fledged farm accounting practice in the country. Literature reveals a strong relationship between the degrees of commercialization with that of the adoption of accounting practices. Therefore, the study attempts to examine the commercial traits in Indian farms, which genuinely envisage such practices in the sector. Thereafter, the existing practices of accounting in India are discussed by underscoring the measurement and valuation techniques of different farm account heads. Lastly, the study tries to draw attention to certain lacunas in the existing system. These are drawn using the authors' own observations, supported by past research. As outcomes of the study, a considerable commercial appeal is seen in the Indian farm sector. Certain farm accounts heads and their respective treatments are provided to explore the existing system of farm accounting in the country. The drawbacks of present practice are found in terms of recognition, measurement and presentation of financial data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of financial leverage on the shareholders' return and market value of 50 Indian companies listed on NSE and BSE—10 each (five high leverage and five low leverage) from auto, cement, FMCG, oil and gas and pharmaceutical industries of India. Shareholders' return has been calculated through earnings per share and return on equity ratio, while market value is measured through dividend payout and price-earning ratio. Linear regressions are used to quantify the effect of financial leverage on shareholders' return and market value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Audit committees act as an important link in corporate governance mechanisms. As such, SOX Act, 2002, Blue Ribbon Committee's report and Narayana Murthy Committee's report have placed greater emphasis on their role in order to strengthen the functioning of these committees. The rationale behind this is that greater independence of audit committees is necessary for effective functioning and for alleviating weaknesses in corporate governance which, in turn, reduces the agency costs. Research evidence reaffirms this aspect. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between the independence of the audit committee, board independence and firm performance of listed firms segmented1 between BSE 100 and BSE 200 indices, for the years 2007 and 2008. The results are in consonance with other research studies indicating that performance of firms which have independent audit committees and greater board independence is higher resulting in premium valuations as measured by Tobin's Q, a proxy for firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing global concern towards corporate environmental disclosure has led to the voluntary reporting of environmental information by Indian companies as well. However, the nature and content of disclosure vary across industries and firms, and these variations can be attributed to various firm specific factors. The present study therefore aims at identifying the influence of firm-specific factors on environmental disclosure made by select Indian companies. The firm-specific characteristics identified for the study are firm size, profitability, leverage, effective tax rate and liquidity. Environmental disclosure is measured by developing an environmental disclosure index based on prior literature. The sample for the study comprises select companies chosen from ten environmentally sensitive industries, viz., distillery, sugar, fertilizer, pulp and paper, chlor alkali, pharmaceuticals, dyes and dye intermediates, pesticides, oil and refinery and petrochemicals. Consequently, a multiple regression analysis has been conducted to assess the relationship between the corporate characteristics and environmental disclosure. The findings of the study show that the influential variables for explaining firms' variation in environmental disclosure are effective tax rate, liquidity and leverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the use of Internet for corporate reporting in India. The study identifies the extent of Web-based financial and non-financial disclosures and its relationship with various company characteristics, which include size, profits, age, nature of industry, affiliation to business house, liquidity, ownership spread and leverage of Indian corporates. Internet Disclosure Index (IDI) is calculated to measure the type and extent of Web disclosure, using a sample of 200 companies. The study results indicate that industry sector, size of the company, and association with business house positively affect the extent of information disclosure on websites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive research is going on in applied finance and econometrics on modeling the volatility of financial assets. Contemporary research uses most sophisticated methods to model the volatility. However, there exists two different schools of thought on the input variable, i.e., measure of volatility series. One school of thought advocates volatility measured using close-close price and the other school posits use of extreme values, that is, Open, High, Low and Close (OHLC). Little empirical work has been carried out on this topic in the Indian context. Using 1,421 daily observations of each of the three highly volatile sector-specific stock indices in India, we measure, compare and assess predictive ability of close-to-close estimator, Parkinson's and Garman and Klass's extreme value estimators over the period January 1, 2016 to September 30, 2021. The results of relative efficiency measures indicate superior performance of Extreme Value Methods (EVMs) over classical method. Furthermore, the results of 483 cross-sectional regression tests indicate the predictive ability of EVMs and report statistically significant t-statistics for a majority of the periods. It is also observed that EVMs have low standard errors when outliers are weeded out. Similarly, EVMs have t-statistic values and are statistically significant at 1% level during highly volatile market conditions. Our results support the argument that use of volatility measured with EVMs is efficient and suggest its use in modeling volatility of financial assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists a lacuna in nonaudit services (NAS) literature regarding its determinants. This study is an attempt to provide preliminary evidence on various drivers of NAS in the context of an emerging nation like India. It is based on secondary data of the top 50 nonfinancial firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, spanning the period 2017-2021. NAS is measured by natural log of NAS (LnNAS) and NAS fee ratio (FEERATIO), calculated as NAF divided by the sum of audit fee and nonaudit fee (NAF). The study uses Random Effects Model to identify the determinants of NAS. To check the robustness of the results, the study further employs generalized estimating equation (GEE) model. The findings bring to light growth, liquidity, audit committee effectiveness, brand name of auditor, audit tenure and audit fees as intrinsic factors influencing the NAS purchase decisions of a firm. Interestingly, the study does not find any significant influence of firm size and board size on both the employed measures of NAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are designed as a common set of language for business affairs so that company accounts could be understandable and comparable across international boundaries. IFRS leads to changes in the financial statement of the company. In order to check whether shareholders' wealth is affected or not by adoption of IFRS, the present research has been carried out. The objectives of the present paper are to determine the shareholders' wealth in terms of EVA (absolute and relative) before and after adoption of IFRS for Indian companies and to examine the different components of EVA before and after adoption of IFRS in India. To check the impact, paired data t-test has been administered for testing significance. The results of the study reveal that there is no improvement in EVA and EVA-related financial parameters due to IFRS adoption. For consistency concern, coefficient of variation has also been calculated. The results indicate that consistency in EVA and EVA-related financial parameters is observed after adoption of IFRS. It may also be concluded that the fundamental principle of accounting, i.e., consistency, is supported to a large extent by IFRS adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or converged Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) and its implications are imperative for Indian companies. India has decided to converge with IFRS, which means that India will have its own converged standards in line with the IFRS. On January 2, 2015, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs notified (PIB, 2015) that Ind AS would be mandatorily applicable for accounting period ending March 31, 2016 for companies falling under certain classifications. It is expected that once these are implemented, it will have a significant impact on financial statements. The convergence of IFRS will benefit Indian companies as they would be comparable to the peers internationally, which in turn would lead to a greater equity and debt participation by international players, thus making funding easier and cheaper. This paper focuses on two key issues: Are financial statements prepared using the two different standards significantly different? And, is there an increase in equity participation of foreign investors in Indian companies which have adopted IFRS? Companies covered in the study report financial statements as per two accounting standards because they are listed on Indian stock exchange and NASDAQ. Since these Indian companies have dual listing (India and international), on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), they report as per Indian GAAP, and as these companies are listed on NASDAQ, they need to prepare financial statement using IFRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]