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This study investigates the influence of board independence, board size, auditor's opinion, profitability (good or bad news) and industry sector, on the timeliness of annual financial reports among Jordanian companies. It covers 114 listed companies on the Amman Stock Exchange for the year 2012. The timeliness of the financial reports is measured by audit report lag. We find that the firms, on average, take more than two months to complete the audit of financial reporting. Consistent with most studies, we find that firms with improved performance (good news) are faster in publishing their financial reports than firms with declining performance (bad news). The results also show that firms with an unqualified audit opinion release their financial reports earlier than those that do not receive a clean opinion. In addition, firms with a smaller board report faster than those with a larger board. Nevertheless, there is no evidence of the influence of independent directors and type of sector on the timeliness of financial reporting. This study serves as an input to policy makers and regulators in formulating policies and strategies with respect to the timeliness of financial reports.

This paper discusses about the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the Nigerian financial institutions. Nigeria have been using domestic accounting standard (NGAAP) for banks and non-banks financial institutions known as Statement of Accounting Standards (SAS 10 Part 1 and SAS 15 Part 2) issued in 1990 and 1997 respectively for financial reporting. These domestic standards were adopted from International Accounting Standards (IAS 30) but have not been updated like IAS 30 as reported by the Report on Observance of Standard Codes (ROSC) of Nigeria in 2004 and 2011. The change in accounting regulations is as a result of the weaknesses of NGAAP and low disclosure requirements. IFRS reporting has more disclosures than NGAAP especially for financial institutions. Under NGAAP financial instruments have not been classified as in IFRS. For instance, financial instruments have been classified into four under IAS 39 as; (i) recognised fair value on gain or loss in profit or loss, (ii) are measured at amortised cost for investments held-to-maturity, (iii) measured at amortised cost for loans and receivables, (iv) measured at fair value gain or loss for available-for-sale financial assets recognised in other comprehensive income. Additionally, financial liabilities have been categories into two namely; (i) measured at amortised fair value on financial liabilities through profit or loss and, (ii) measured at amortised other liabilities. Now with the mandatory adoptions of reporting under IFRS by all listed financial institutions, will the accounting disclosures be more value relevant among Nigerian financial institutions?

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This paper investigates whether corporate sustainability reporting is associated with high firm performance in emerging markets. Using a sample of 24,029 firm-year observations from 14 emerging markets, including China,