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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of accounting development and the adoption of IFRS in the four foremost economies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)—Egypt, Jordan, Libya and UAE. Through the lens of institutional theory, the study investigates the impact of economic, political, legal and cultural institutions on the development of these countries’ accounting practices and their readiness to use IFRS. Design/methodology/approach This research uses accounting development indices obtained from current literature as well as recent World Economic Forum and UNCTAD reports to examine the development of accounting in these MENA countries and their inclination to adopt IFRS. Findings The study identifies a number of impediments to the development of accounting practices and adoption of IFRS in these countries. It also reveals that three of the four MENA countries (Egypt, Jordan and UAE) could be placed on a level playing field with their principal trading partners (the US, the UK, Germany and Italy) given the formers’ business environments, methods of raising finance and levels of professional accounting practices. Research Implications/limitations Although limited to only four jurisdictions, findings from the study have important implications for investors and parties that are interested in improving the value relevance of the information presented by firms especially in a globalised economy with increasing cross-listing. Originality/value This study extends the frontier of knowledge on the development of accounting and IFRS adoption by focusing on the MENA region. It is the first effort that the authors are aware of to adopt such a multifarious approach.

Concerns for fossil fuel price volatility, environmental pollution and energy inefficiency drive the formulation of energy policies aimed at attaining energy security. We use a theoretical framework which integrates key elements of energy security into the context of natural capital theory to investigate the causal relationship between Nasdaq clean energy stock price and a range of variables including oil price, natural gas prices, carbon price and energy efficiency. Our ARDL results reveal that clean energy stock price is jointly and individually explained by the variables representing some elements of energy security. Carbon price and energy efficiency emerged as the most important elements of energy security driving the on-going transition from conventional to clean energy sources. Consequently, governments should take environmental sustainability and energy efficiency very seriously when formulating energy policies in the pursuit of energy security and the way they stimulate substitutions between clean energy sources and hydrocarbons.

Within the context of a target oil price band regime, this paper posits that cheating behaviour in OPEC has ethical and accountability implications for the organisation. It also impacts on its reputation and ability to ensure stable and fair oil prices in the oil markets. Based on data sets covering the period from 2000 to 2012 (i.e. production quota era), analysed using the Vector Auto-Regression/Vector Error Correction (VAR-VEC) framework, the study's results indicate that OPEC cheating, mainly instigated by the amount of spare production capacity available to OPEC members, does not seem to have a significant direct effect on international oil prices. However, the degree of cheating by OPEC member-states might disrupt its ability to maintain surplus capacity enough to reduce price speculation in the oil markets. Should cheating behaviour in OPEC continue unabated, this could jeopardise an effective energy regulatory framework and market transparency. The paper, therefore, recommends a policy action in OPEC to support the redesigning of the existing quota system that is fair and just to its members and capable of controlling any cheating behaviour.