Augustine Donkor

We examine the moderating role of culture on the association between corporate governance (CG) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure of Fintech firms. Our study collected and analysed data from firms in 8 of the top 20 Fintech countries from 2010-2020. Our findings show that the size, independence, and gender diversity of the board positively influence the ESG disclosures of fintech firms. We also find that culture moderates the effect of board characteristics on ESG disclosure in various ways depending on the specific cultural dimension. Specifically, the positive influence of board size, independence, and gender diversity on ESG disclosure is more pronounced in collectivist and low-indulgent cultural environments. The board independence and ESG disclosure association is prominent in feminine societies. High uncertainty avoidance also moderates the effect of board size and independence on ESG disclosure of Fintech firms favourably. We surmise that the varying role of the different cultural dimensions may explain the mixed results in the CG practices and ESG disclosures literature. Our study, thus, highlights the importance of culture in boards' ESG disclosure decisions and the need to consider culture in explaining the CG-ESG disclosure nexus.

Quality assurance is key if integrated reporting (IR) wishes to become the corporate reporting norm. However, current assurance standards seem unsuitable for an integrated IR assurance. This paper develops and proposes a research framework to evaluate the trends in IR assurance, the nature of IR assurance, the level of IR assurance engagement and the quality of IR assurance. Additionally, the framework proposes to test the impact of quality IR assurance on the quality of IR reports.