Purpose -This paper examines the extent to which Saudi listed companies report online information about their corporate governance practice in light of the guidance issued by the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (SACMA), thereafter.Methodology -We adopted a content analysis approach, accordingly a corporate governance disclosure index is developed to analyse the content of every company's website.Findings -We found that the majority of Saudi listed companies utilise the Internet to communicate some information about corporate governance to their stakeholders. We also found that the level of online reporting of corporate governance varies between sectors. In particular, the paper revealed that the banking sector has the highest level of corporate governance disclosure compared with other sectors. On the other side, companies in the industry and service sectors provide very little information about corporate governance on their websites. The results suggest that the nature of control over the sector, the involvement of government in the ownership and management of businesses and some social assumptions could have an impact on companies' decision to disclose online information about their corporate governance in developing countries.Practical implications -The importance of investigating online reporting of corporate governance in Saudi Arabia emerges from the fact that SACMA published a guidance in 2006 that recommends the disclosure of corporate governance information by Saudi listed companies. Therefore, it would be worthwhile informing SACMA about the extent of compliance with the guidance of corporate governance. This is essential taking into consideration two facts; first, the recent remarkable grown of the Saudi stock market which was accompanied by significant increase in the demand for additional information by stakeholders, second , the recent increase of the utalisation of the Internet by companies for disclosure purposes worldwide. Further, the results of this research study could add to our limited knowledge about the practice of corporate governance in developing countries.Originality/value -This paper contributes to the limited literature on disclosure practices in developing countries in general and in Saudi Arabia in particular. Our review of the literature revealed that there is no study to date on online disclosure of corporate governance in Saudi Arabia and very limited research has been carried out in developing countries in general. This is important taking into consideration environmental factors of developing countries, which could bring different sight in the issue of the disclosure of corporate governance.

This paper aims to investigate whether the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) increases the value relevance of accounting information for insurance firms listed in the Saudi stock market. The study employs the Ohlson model (1995) and the Easton-Harris valuation model (1991) in order to examine the association among stock market value and book value and earnings per share. The data was collected for 21 insurance companies listed in the Saudi stock market during the period 2007-2014, which covered pre-/ post-IFRS periods. The results reveal that the book value of equity becomes less value relevant whereas earnings are more value relevant. Further analysis suggests that the increase in the value relevance of accounting information is positively influenced by companies' attributes, especially profitability and size rather than IFRS adoption. These results highlight the importance of institutional factors in the determination of the value relevance of accounting information in emerging stock markets. These results also expand IFRS research through a consideration of the insurance industry, which is more vulnerable to the accounting evaluation model.

This paper examines the effect of the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards on the integration of capital market in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. First, it uses the correlation matrix of the stock market index returns for the insurance sector from 2007 to 2013 as a proxy for the national stock market index return. Then, the causal nexus among financial variables has been investigated by employing cointegration analysis. The study finds that the adoption of IFRS by GCC stock markets has no significant impact on the integration of the capital market. Rather, the results show that the relation among these markets are mostly representing world trend toward more integration as well as the possible impact of the nature of their economy. This could be due to other institutional elements which might have some influence on the magnitude of the role of accounting standards in capital markets. Thus regulators in GCC countries should consider the interplay between accounting standards and market institutional elements in order to enhance their capital market integration.

Purpose -This paper aims to investigate factors influencing Shari'ah governance disclosure (SGD) in financial institutions.Design/methodology/approach -Using content analysis approach, 46 annual reports published in 2015 by banks and insurance companies were investigated based on a self-constructed disclosure index.Findings -The results show that the average level of voluntary disclosure of Shari'ah governance in Saudi financial institutions is 11.7 per cent, which is lower than expectations Moreover, regression analysis shows that industry type, ownership structure and board composition significantly determine the extent of voluntary disclosure of Shari'ah governance. Local financial institutions which are owned by non-governmental agencies are more likely to disclose voluntarily their Shari'ah governance, in particular from the banking industry.Research limitations/implications -It also bridges the gap between theory and practice and can be used to practice economic and commercial impact in teaching to influence public policy in research contributing to the body of knowledge and especially for the insurance sector and government.Social implications -It provides guidance to the ethical investors and supports them in the decisionmaking process.Originality/value -This research extends the investigation of SGD into insurance sector in a country that has a general policy about adhering to Islamic principles. Financial institutions might go beyond the country affirmations to legitimate their identity in response to the society critiques about the issue. Accordingly, internal attributes and strategies of financial institutions may play a significant role in distinguishing its compliance with Islamic principles to respond to the society critiques about financial transactions.

This research aims to explore the practices of business colleges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to reveal their engagement with the society and the factors affecting their engagement with the community. The study utilized a content analysis approach in collecting data from the websites of business colleges in 2016. The sample size comprised 142 business colleges from 20 countries in the MENA region. A regression model was established for the relationship between the independent variables (age, type and academic accreditation of business school and income level, population density and Internet user rate in the country of the college) and the dependent variable (behavior of business schools in disclosing their societal role on their websites). The results indicate that situation and economic stability are central factors influencing the level of disclosure about the business schools' engagement with the community. This gives an impression that university practices of social responsibilities come as a result of economic and social development, not as a result of the needs of the society itself. Accordingly, the study recommends that business schools in less developed societies reemphasize their roles according to their community needs and facilitate technology in the process of fulfilling this responsibility.