The discussion of “whether it pays to be green” is ongoing. This review does not intend to solve the debate, rather it soothes it by contributing to the concept of “when it pays to be green.” By focusing on the shortcomings of existing literature reviews on the topic of corporate sustainability and financial performance (CSFP) in this hybrid review, issues were identified that had been overlooked earlier. In general, CSFP holds a positive relationship but in a time lag. Nonconclusive results about the relationship within CSFP are due to self-selection bias, endogeneity issues, and the use of multiple datasets and industry categories. Surprisingly, we also discovered that the impact of sustainability on financial performance is elusive in capitalist countries considered to be economically rational. Institutional and legitimacy requirements are a good starting point for shaping corporate behaviors in the short term; however, they might not be equally appropriate in the long term in cases when corporations shift operations to pollution havens. A multifaceted, synergistic interaction between governmental institutions, corporations, and other stakeholders is required—without imposing authority—to ensure durable sustainable development. © 2023 The Authors. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

By analysing 796 companies' data from 21 European countries, this research uncovered the nexus between institutional quality (IQ) and corporate sustainable performance (CSP). The relationship was theoretically examined with the lens of institutional theory and then empirically tested. The findings show that IQ has a positive and significant impact in safeguarding CSP, and firms’ characteristics play an essential preamble in this regard. We additionally found the heterogeneous impact of IQ on CSP. To come to a conclusion, we have applied random effect, two-step system GMM and quantile regression models. Our findings are consistent and empirically robust; therefore, the study disseminates key messages to policymakers and practitioners about the role of IQ in safeguarding CSP. © 2022 The Authors

This study focuses on knowledge management and entrepreneurs’ perceptions in terms of knowledge sharing, the use of financial statement information and how these impact on their strategic business judgments and decision choices in innovative SME firms. Using a strategic decision making process model we test our assumptions regarding entrepreneurs´ knowledge routines implemented by non-Gazelle companies in strategic business decision. Combining survey data and financial data from a unique archival database we test our propositions on Swedish SMEs. The results of the structural equation analysis implied that non-Gazelle companies are propelled primarily by non-financial information captured by the expertise of managers and investors. Traditional financial information does not include entrepreneurs´ decision making however, the results indicate that entrepreneurs risk awareness is reported as a part of the frame why entrepreneurs´ make decisions.

Managers’ use of auditors in decision processes is well known in the accounting literature, but little is known about owner-managers in innovative firms and their acquisition of accounting knowledge through direct contacts with external auditors. We conducted a multiple embedded study of exploratory character based on 21 interviews with owner-managers and external auditors connected to six innovative firms. We show that owner-managers in innovative firms apply informal management control in early phases of the innovation process and thus also rely heavily on external auditors for such purposes. However, management’s acquisition of accounting knowledge may contribute over time to the development of a more formalised control system as their competence increases. This study suggests that a competence-based view may be useful for understanding the role of accounting and external auditors in innovative firms’ management control systems. Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Managers’ use of auditors in decision processes are well known in the accounting literature but little is known on managers in innovative firms and their acquisition of accounting knowledge through direct contacts with auditors. We conducted a multiple embedded study of exploratory character based on 19 interviews with managers and auditors connected to six innovative firms. We show that managers in innovative firms apply informal management control in early phases and thus also rely to a high extent on external auditors for such purposes. Management acquisition of accounting knowledge may however stepwise contribute to a more formalized control system as management competence increase. This study suggests that competence based view may be useful for understanding the role of accounting and auditors.

Using a combination of survey data and unique archival databases we investigate the impact of managers´ participation in the year-end accounting process on the quality of financial reporting and cost of debt among Swedish privately owned Gazelles (rapidly growing firms) compared to Non-Gazelles. We find that managers of Gazelles are more prone to participate in the year-end accounting process compared to Non-Gazelles. Further, we find weak evidence that Gazelles produce higher quality financial reports (in terms of conservatism). Further, our results indicate that Gazelles experience lower cost of debt, though this is not statistically significant. We also find that private firms manage earnings to a greater extent the smaller they are and that the cost of debt systematically decreases with size for groups of firms.

Using unique data where SMEs choose between standard sets we document standard choices, accounting quality, and cost of debt among 1,787 SMEs. We find that 99% use Swedish GAAP, and comparing Gazelles to Non-Gazelles; we find Gazelles are more prone to pick individual SFASC/IFRS standards. We investigate accounting quality and find little difference between the groups. We find that creditors able to assess credit risks regardless of financial reporting quality resulting in lower cost of debt for Gazelles. We show that accounting regulation is less important to SMEs who manage to provide creditors with information to assess the credit risk regardless. The reluctance to switch accounting standards suggests that financial reporting would not improve if “better” standards were enforced. This supports efforts to ease regulatory requirements for small firms such as the European Commission’s publication of the report “Less regulatory burden for small businesses” and raise the question whether the IASB’s project IFRS for SMEs is worthwhile.

We investigate improvements of the information environment and cost of debt implications. Capturing choices of accounting standards, auditor quality, and board size reflecting improvements of the information environment we find that the need of financing triggers an improvement, the most common actions are to switch to more qualified accountants and add board members. Improvements of the environment result in a reduction of cost of debt. Tests show that increasing audit quality decrease cost of debt. This is relevant to the discussion on accounting regulation for private firms among U.S. and European policy-makers showing that stakeholders do not demand valuation-oriented accounting.

Using a unique database and manually collected data we analyse and document accounting choices made by Swedish SMEs between 2005 and 2008. We find that given an option to report under Swedish GAAP or a translation of IFRS (SFASC/IFRS), only 5 firms out of 1,500 opted to do so. Further analysis of choices of picking individual standards of SFASC/IFRS shows no significant difference across Gazelles and Non-Gazelles. Among firms that select individual SFASC/IFRS standards most opt to use the percentage-of-completion method for long-term contracts. We also investigate differences in quality of financial reporting across Gazelles and Non-Gazelles and find that the financial reporting quality is consistently higher among Gazelles compared to Non-Gazelles. Test of cost of debt implications show that creditors find Gazelles’ financial reporting more useful to assess the credit risk resulting in lower cost of debt for this group of firms. Thus, SMEs seem to have little incentive to switch to SFASC/IFRS, which may be an indication of their attitude to future adoption of IFRS for SMEs as well. Furthermore, the results suggest that SMEs with an incentive to produce high quality financial reporting to raise capital, Gazelles, are able to do so using Swedish GAAP. These findings raise the question whether the IFRS for SMEs project is worthwhile.

The aim of this paper is to describe the extent and content of information regarding incubator management structure, selection, support and network mediation on Swedish incubators websites and analyse connections between how different incubator management structure have an impact on the content of incubator best practice. The data is based on information reported on 44 incubator websites in Sweden processed within the SPSS system. The findings show that incubators with more male representation in board and coach/advisor personnel report a more active part in business support including network mediation.