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This study aims to explore the role of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) adoption in improving financial statements transparency in the Jordanian context.

The partial least squares structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the obtained data.

The empirical outcomes indicated that the adoption of XBRL contributes to improving financial statements transparency in listed Jordanian firms in the Amman Stock Exchange, whereas information technology (IT) infrastructure was found to moderate the relationship between XBRL adoption and improving financial statements transparency and hence the related hypotheses were accepted.

This study encouraged the importance of shifting to the adoption of the XBRL which will contribute to improving transparency of financial data and information in listed Jordanian firms and then support the process of decision-making.

This study aims to examine the impact of ownership structure variables on the performance of Saudi listed firms.

The impact of ownership structure variables on firm performance is examined using fixed effects and dynamic panel generalised method of moments regression approaches for 70 listed firms over the period 2016–2021. Ownership structure variables are captured by examining government, institutional, insider, foreign and family ownership, and firm performance is gauged in terms of the accounting-based measures of return on assets and the return on equity and the market-based measures of Tobin’s Q and the market-to-book ratio.

The results show that government, institutional, insider and foreign ownership all positively affect both accounting and market-based performance measures, whereas family ownership exerts a negative impact across the models. The findings support resource dependence theory, agency theory and alignment effects arguments.

The findings have significant implications for Saudi regulators in their effort to improve domestic capital market efficiency and investor protection, while also highlighting the need for a corporate governance code to safeguard minority shareholders. The results demonstrate that government, institutional, insider and foreign ownership exert an important impact on firm operational and market performance.

This study expands the literature by examining how ownership structure variables affect performance in an interesting developing country corporate context.

This paper aims to investigate firm-level variations in the extent of mandatory disclosures and address the drivers of mandatory disclosure using data from the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region.

The extent of mandatory disclosure is examined using a disclosure index created with reference to 24 International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs).

The authors find that the extent of mandatory disclosure required by applicable IFRSs/International Accounting Standards increases with international presence, group firms, the level of voluntary disclosure, firm age and the education level of company financial controllers. It decreases with firm size and the proportion of institutional share ownership. The degree of board independence is positively related to the level of mandatory disclosure in firms with no state ownership. Profitability positively affects the level of mandatory disclosure to a greater extent in more liquid GCC firms. The results confirm that there is a greater sensitivity of mandatory disclosure to loss than to profit. Loss increases, whilst profit decreases, the extent of mandatory disclosure.

The results promote further understanding of international financial reporting differences in an emerging country setting.

The findings provide a detailed insight to investors, financial analysts, practitioners and academics.

The authors develop a highly granular mandatory disclosure index in a developing country setting and identify key drivers of such disclosure.

This study examines the impact of board composition and ownership structure variables on dividend payout policy in Saudi Arabian firms. In particular, it aims to determine the effect of board size, independence and meeting frequency, in addition to chief executive officer (CEO) duality, and state, institutional, managerial, family, and foreign ownership on both the propensity to pay dividends and dividend per share for Saudi-listed firms over the period 2016–2019.

The paper captures dividend policy with two measures, propensity to pay dividends and dividend per share, and employs a range of regression methods (logistic, probit, ordinary least squares (OLS) and random effects regressions) along with a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model for robustness to account for heteroscedasticity, serial correlation and endogeneity issues. The data set is a large panel of 280 Saudi-listed firms over the period 2016 to 2019.

The results underline the importance of board composition and the ownership structure in explaining variations in dividend policy across Saudi firms. More specifically, there is a positive relationship between the propensity to pay dividends and board-meeting frequency, institutional ownership, firm profitability and firm age, while the degree of board independence, firm size and leverage exhibit a negative relation. Further, dividend per share is positively related to board meeting frequency, institutional ownership, foreign ownership, firm profitability and age, while it is negatively related to CEO duality, managerial ownership, and firm leverage. There is no evidence that family ownership exerts an impact on dividend payout policy in Saudi firms. The findings of this study support agency, signalling, substitute and outcome theories of dividend policy.

This study offers an important insight into the board characteristic and ownership structure drivers of dividend policy in the context of an emerging market. Moreover, the study has important implications for firms, managers, investors, policymakers, and regulators in Saudi Arabia.

This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing evidence on four board and five ownership characteristic drivers of dividend policy in Saudi Arabia as an emerging stock market, thereby improving on less comprehensive previous studies. The study recommends that investors consider board composition and ownership structure characteristics of firms as key drivers of dividend policy when making stock investment decisions to inform them about the propensity of investee firms to pay dividends and maintain a given dividend policy.

This paper aims to examine firm characteristics and ownership structure determinants of corporate social and environmental voluntary disclosure (CSEVD) practices in Saudi Arabia to address the paucity of research in this field for Saudi listed firms.

The paper uses manual content and regression analyses for online annual report data for Saudi non-financial listed firms over the period 2016–2018 using CSEVD items drawing on global reporting initiative-G4 guidelines.

Models show that Saudi firm CSEVD has increased over time compared to previous studies to an average of 68% disclosure due to new corporate governance regulations and IFRS implementation. The models show that firm size, leverage, manufacturing industry type and government ownership are positive determinants of CSEVD, while family ownership is the negative driver of CSEVD. However, firm profitability, audit firm size, firm age and institutional ownership have no impact on the level of CSEVD.

Using legitimacy and stakeholder theories, the paper determines the influence of firm characteristics and ownership structure on CSEVD, identifying implications for firm stakeholders and providing some evidence on the impact of corporate governance regulation and IFRS implementation on such disclosure. The paper provides additional evidence on progress towards Saudi’s Vision 2030.