Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of corporate governance reforms in Italy. Design/methodology/approach – The authors argue that the effectiveness of corporate governance can best be assessed with reference to the choices made by management or controlling...

This paper investigates whether the provision of non-audit services (NAS) to audit clients impairs auditor independence of mind and independence in appearance. The main contributions of this paper are in terms of its timeliness with respect to regulatory changes, the simultaneous examination of...

This study examines if the reversal of impairments allowed by IAS 36 as undertaken by UK-quoted companies can be justified as unbiased adjustments to reflect the fair value of the property, plant and equipment assets to which they pertain. We test if the reversals are reflected in the change in...

We examine asset sales as a method of real earnings management around the benchmarks of loss avoidance and last year's earnings. Evidence is reported of asset sales to boost or reduce earnings near the benchmark of last year's earnings. For the benchmark of zero earnings our results are...

This paper analyses how investor protection provided by the institutional setting in which a firm operates affects the quality of its board of directors. It also investigates whether firms operating in contexts with weaker investor protection rely more on internal corporate governance to prevent...