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Purpose – We examine the impact of audit quality (AQ) on Classification Shifting (CS) among non-financial firms operating in the UK and Germany. Methodology – This paper used various audit committee variables (size, meetings, gender diversity, and financial expertise) to measure AQ and its impact on CS. We used a total of 2110 firm-year observations from 2010 to 2019. Findings - We found that the presence of female members on the audit committee and audit committee financial expertise deter the UK and German managers from shifting core expenses and revenue items into special items to inflate core earnings. However, audit committee size is positively related to CS among German firms but has no impact on UK firms. We also document evidence that audit committee meetings restrain UK managers from engaging in CS. However, we found no impact on CS among German firms. Our results hold even after employing several tests. Originality - Most CS studies used market-oriented economies such as the USA and UK and ignored bank-based economies such as Germany, France, and Japan. We provide a comparison among bank and market-oriented economies on whether the AQ has a similar impact on CS or not among them. Implications - Overall, our findings provide broad support in an international setting for the board to improve its auditing practices and offer essential information to investors to assess how AQ affects the financial reporting process.

Purpose -This paper examines the impact of board characteristics on earnings management among UK non-financial firms. Methodology - Using a sample of the UK FTSE 350 firms from 2010 till 2019, we investigated the relationship between board characteristics (board size, board gender diversity, board tenure, board independence, CEO-duality, board meetings) and earnings management by using quantile regression technique. Findings - We found a non-linear association between board characteristics and discretionary accrual. The empirical evidence showed that board mechanisms reduce the extent of earnings manipulation among UK firms with higher discretionary accruals than firms with low and medium discretionary accruals levels. Implications - Our results will benefit UK firms by helping them to rethink their board composition. It will also help policymakers understand how the corporate board can help ensure the quality of financial reports. Originality/value – We used the quantile regression approach, which helps to clarify the mixed findings of prior studies that used conventional regression techniques.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of inclusive human development and military expenditure in modulating the effect of terrorism on governance. Design/methodology/approach It is based on 53 African countries for the period 1998–2012 and interactive generalised method of moments is employed. Six governance indicators from the World Bank and two terrorism variables are used, namely, domestic and transnational terrorism dynamics. Findings The following main findings are established. There is a negative net effect on governance (regulation quality and corruption-control) when inclusive human development is used to reduce terrorism. There is a positive net impact on governance (voice and accountability and rule of law) when military expenditure is used to reduce domestic terrorism. Originality/value The authors have complemented the sparse literature on the use of policy variables to mitigate the effect of policy syndromes on macroeconomic outcomes.

Purpose-The study complements the scant macroeconomic literature on the development outcomes of social media by examining the relationship between Facebook penetration and violent crime levels in a cross-section of 148 countries for the year 2012. Design/methodology/approach-The empirical evidence is based on Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Tobit and Quantile regressions. In order to respond to policy concerns on the limited evidence on the consequences of social media in developing countries, the dataset is disaggregated into regions and income levels. The decomposition by income levels included: low income, lower middle income, upper middle income and high income. The corresponding regions include: Europe and Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Findings-From OLS and Tobit regressions, there is a negative relationship between Facebook penetration and crime. However, Quantile regressions reveal that the established negative relationship is noticeable exclusively in the 90th crime decile. Further, when the dataset is decomposed into regions and income levels, the negative relationship is evident in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) while a positive relationship is confirmed for sub-Saharan Africa. Policy implications are discussed. Originality/value- Studies on the development outcomes of social media are sparse because of a lack of reliable macroeconomic data on social media. This study primarily complemented three existing studies that have leveraged on a newly available dataset on Facebook.

Purpose- This study presents theoretical and empirical arguments for the role of mobile telephony in promoting good governance in 47 sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2000-2012. Design/methodology/approach- The empirical inquiry uses an endogeneity-robust GMM approach with forward orthogonal deviations to analyse the linkage between mobile phone usage and the variation in three broad governance categories — political, economic and institutional. Findings- Three key findings are established: First, in terms of individual governance indicators, mobile phones consistently stimulated good governance by the same magnitude, with the exception of the effect on the regulation component of economic governance. Second, when indicators are combined, the effect of mobile phones on general governance is three times higher than that on the institutional governance category. Third, countries with lower levels of governance indicators are catching-up with their counterparts with more advanced dynamics. Originality/value- The study makes both theoretical and empirical contributions by highlighting the importance of various combinations of governance indicators and their responsiveness to mobile phone usage.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate loan price and quantity effects of information sharing offices with information and communication technology (ICT), in a panel of 162 banks consisting of 42 African countries for the period 2001–2011. Design/methodology/approach The empirical evidence is based on a panel of 162 banks in 42 African countries for the period 2001–2011. Misspecification errors associated with endogenous variables and unobserved heterogeneity in financial access are addressed with generalized method of moments and instrumental quantile regressions. Findings The findings uncover several major themes. First, ICT when integrated with the role of public credit registries significantly lowered the price of loans and raised the quantity of loans. Second, while the net effects from the interaction of ICT with private credit bureaus (PCBs) do not improve financial access, the corresponding marginal effects show that ICT could complement the characteristics of PCBs to reduce loan prices and increase loan quantity, but only when certain thresholds of ICT are attained. The authors compute and discuss the policy implications of these ICT thresholds for banks with low, intermediate and high levels of financial access. Originality/value This is one of the few studies to assess how the growing ICT can be leveraged in order to reduce information asymmetry in the banking industry with the ultimate aim of improving financial access in a continent where lack of access to finance is a critical policy syndrome

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of information asymmetry (between the realized return and the expected return) on market timing in the mutual fund industry. Design/methodology/approach For the purpose, the authors use a panel of 1,488 active open-end mutual funds for the period 2004-2013. The authors use fund-specific time-dynamic betas. The information asymmetry is measured as the standard deviation of idiosyncratic risk. The data set is decomposed into five market fundamentals in order to emphasis the policy implications of the findings with respect to: equity, fixed income, allocation, alternative, and tax-preferred mutual funds. The empirical evidence is based on endogeneity-robust difference and system generalized method of moments. Findings The following findings are established. First, the information asymmetry broadly follows the same trend as volatility, with a higher sensitivity to market risk exposure. Second, fund managers tend to raise (cutback) their risk exposure in time of high (low) market liquidity. Third, there is evidence of convergence in equity funds. The authors may, therefore, infer that equity funds with lower market risk exposure are catching-up with their counterparts with higher exposure to fluctuation in market conditions. Originality/value The paper complements the sparse literature on market timing in the mutual fund industry with time-dynamic betas, information asymmetry and an endogeneity-robust empirical approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the correlations between mobile banking and inclusive development (poverty and inequality) in 93 developing countries for the year 2011. Design/methodology/approach Mobile banking entails the following: “mobile phones used to pay bills” and “mobile phones used to receive/send money”, while the modifying policy indicator includes the human development index (HDI). The data are decomposed into seven sub-panels based on two fundamental characteristics: regions (Latin America, Asia and the Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, and Middle East and North Africa) and income levels (upper middle income, lower middle income and low income). Findings The results show that at certain thresholds of the HDI, mobile banking is positively linked to inclusive development. The following specific findings are established. First, the increased use of mobile phones to pay bills is negatively correlated with: poverty in lower-middle-income countries (LMIC), upper-middle-income countries (UMIC) and Latin American (LA) countries, respectively, at HDI thresholds of 0.725, 0.727 and 0.778 and inequality in UMIC and LA with HDI thresholds of, respectively, 0.646 and 0.761. Second, the increased use of mobile phones to send/receive money is negatively correlated with: poverty in LMIC, UMIC and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries with corresponding HDI thresholds of 0.631, 0.750 and 0.750 and inequality in UMIC, CEE and LA at HDI thresholds of 0.665, 0.736 and 0.726, respectively. Practical implications The findings are discussed in the light of current policy challenges in the transition from the UN’s Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals. Originality/value The authors have exploited the only macroeconomic data on mobile banking currently available

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how information and communication technology (ICT) influences openness to improve the conditions of doing business in sub-Saharan Africa. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected for the period 2000-2012. ICT is proxied with internet and mobile phone penetration rates whereas openness is measured in terms of financial and trade globalisation. Ten indicators of doing business are used, namely: cost of business start-up procedures; procedure to enforce a contract; start-up procedures to register a business; time required to build a warehouse; time required to enforce a contract; time required to register a property; time required to start a business; time to export; time to prepare and pay taxes; and time to resolve an insolvency. The empirical evidence is based on generalised method of moments with forward orthogonal deviations. Findings While the authors find substantial evidence that ICT complements openness to improve conditions for entrepreneurship, the effects are contingent on the dynamics of openness, ICT and entrepreneurship. Theoretical and practical policy implications are discussed. Originality/value The inquiry is based on two contemporary development concerns: the need for policy to leverage on the ICT penetration potential in the sub-region and the relevance of entrepreneurship in addressing associated issues of population growth such as unemployment.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of reducing information asymmetry (IA) on conditional financial sector development in 53 African countries for the period 2004-2011. Design/methodology/approach The empirical evidence is based on contemporary and non-contemporary quantile regressions. Instruments for reducing IA include public credit registries (PCRs) and private credit bureaus (PCBs). Hitherto unexplored dimensions of financial sector development are used, namely, financial sector dynamics of formalization, informalization, semi-formalization and non-formalization. Findings The following findings are established. First, the positive (negative) effect of information sharing offices (ISO) on formal (informal) financial development is consistent with theory. Second, ISOs consistently increase formal financial development, with the incidence of PCRs higher in terms of magnitude, and financial sector formalization, with the impact of PCBs higher for the most part. Third, only PCBs significantly decrease informal financial development and both ISOs decrease financial sector informalization. Policy implications are discussed. Originality/value The study assesses the effect of reducing IA on financial development when existing levels of it matter because current studies based on mean values of financial development provide blanket policy implications which are unlikely to be effective unless they are contingent on prevailing levels of financial development and tailored differently across countries with high, intermediate and low initial levels of financial development.

Purpose This study aims to use interactive quantile regressions to assess the conditional role of foreign aid in reducing the potentially negative effect of terrorism on fuel exports in 78 developing countries for the period of 1984-2008. Design/methodology/approach Bilateral and multilateral aid indicators have been used, whereas terrorism includes domestic, transnational, unclear and total terrorism dynamics. Interactive quantile regressions have been used. Findings First, with the exception of unclear terrorism, bilateral aid can be used to mitigate the potentially negative effects of terrorism on fuel exports in bottom quantiles of the fuel export distribution. Second, multilateral aid can be used to reduce the negative effect of transnational terrorism on fuel exports exclusively in the highest (90th) quantile of fuel exports. The corresponding modifying thresholds are within policy ranges disclosed in the summary statistics. Practical implications While the policy instrument of bilateral aid is most relevant in countries with below-median fuel exports, the policy instrument of multilateral aid is effective with respect to transnational terrorism in countries with the highest levels of fuel exports. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on the role of external flows in reducing the negative externalities of terrorism on development outcomes

Purpose – Education as a weapon in the fight against conflict and violence remains widely debated in policy and academic circles. Against the background of growing political instability in Africa and the central role of the knowledge economy in twenty-first century development, this paper provides three contributions to existing literature. The purpose of this paper is to assess how political stability/non-violence is linked to the incremental, synergy and lifelong learning effects of education. Design/methodology/approach – The authors define lifelong learning as the combined knowledge acquired during primary, secondary and tertiary education. Principal component analysis is used to reduce the dimensions of educational and political indicators. An endogeneity robust dynamic system Generalized Methods of Moments is used for the estimations. Findings – The authors establish three main findings. First, education is a useful weapon in the fight against political instability. Second, there is an incremental effect of education in the transition from secondary to tertiary schools. Third, lifelong learning also has positive and synergy effects. This means that the impact of lifelong learning is higher than the combined independent effects of various educational levels. The empirical evidence is based on 53 African countries for the period 1996-2010. Practical implications – A plethora of policy implications are discussed, inter alia: how the drive towards increasing the knowledge economy through lifelong learning can be an effective tool in the fight against violence and political insurgency in Africa. Originality/value – As the continent is nursing knowledge economy ambitions, the paper is original in investigating the determinants of political stability/non-violence from three dimensions of education attainment: the incremental, the lifelong learning and a synergy effect.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the weak-form efficiency of 24 emerging and nine industrial stock market indices around the world. It tests for the predictability and the presence of seasonal patterns in rates of return from January 2000 to December 2010. Design/methodology/approach – It reports on the descriptive statistics for estimated monthly percentage returns. This is complemented by the use of both parametric and non-parametric techniques to test for abnormal return behaviour in stock markets. Findings – The results show that: first, emerging economies which persisted with market-oriented reforms had higher returns relative to risk, indicating their attractiveness for risk diversification; second, successive changes in stock prices were interrelated with each other and therefore contained information for predicting future prices in two-thirds of the emerging markets compared to one-third of industrial economies; and third, the turn-of-the calendar year effect was present for half of the emerging markets vis-à-vis one-quarter of the developed countries. The authors found limited support for the tax-loss selling hypothesis for both the emerging and industrial economies. Research limitations/implications – The paper fails to specifically analyse the implications for security returns of changes in technology, institutions, volume of trading and regulations in the different stock markets. Practical implications – The results should be particularly informative for foreign investors with regard to the risk diversification benefits of the various emerging and industrialised stock markets and the expected risk-return trade-offs. Originality/value – The paper provides a more powerful explanation for the role of institutional arrangements, infrastructure, culture and other country-specific risk factors in asset pricing compared to disparate case studies.

Purpose – The Imo State Supervised Agricultural Credit Loans Board (ISACLB) has outright default rates of more than 50 percent. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify the major characteristics of the Board's beneficiaries who completely failed to honour their repayment commitment as opposed to those who partially repaid. Design/methodology/approach – Data on 36 potential causes of delinquency were collected through questionnaires distributed to 182 defaulters across ISACLB's three regional zones from 1987 to 1997; ISACLB's only completed loan cycle. Descriptive statistics were obtained using the odds ratio technique. Thereafter, a binary logistic regression estimated the marginal effect on the outright default probabilities of each factor. Findings – ISACLB's large overdue problem was strongly linked to four key factors: age of borrowers, frequency of visits by loan officers-cum-extension agents, amount of savings deposits with informal clubs and total annual savings. Research limitations/implications – The primary drawback is the small size of the sample study, as well as the failure to correctly classify the partial defaulters in terms of the stage in the loan cycle at which they actually ceased to repay. Practical implications – In general, initiatives to attract young entrepreneurs, as well as to incorporate a FINCA-type savings scheme into the design of ISACLB's future lending programme should help to resolve its overdue dilemma. Social implications – Older traditional farmers are the principal defaulters. A targeted monitoring, training and information provision appears to be required. Originality/value – There are very few econometric studies dealing specifically with the characteristics of outright and partial microcredit defaulters