Saeed Akbar

• PhD FCMA CGMA
• Head of Department at University of Bradford

Cash flow statements have a longstanding history as mandated financial statement disclosures, having replaced funds flow statements. The usefulness of such disclosures with respect to one of the main purposes of financial statements - providing information relevant to the assessment of future cash flows and their uncertainty, and the market value o...

This study examines how shocks to the supply of credit during the financial crisis of 2007-2009 affect the financing and investment policies of private companies in the UK. To investigate this issue we adopt a fixed effect model as our research methodology. Our final sample includes a total of 4,973 firms. The fixed effect results highlight that th...

This study examines the value relevance of research and development (R&D) expenditures in the pre and post International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) periods in the UK. It also examines firm size and sector-based differences in the value relevance of R&D during the sample period between 2001 and 2011. The results indicate that capitalized R...

This study examines the extent to which the change from UK GAAP to IFRS has affected companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the UK. The results suggest that, on average, profit reported under IFRS is higher than that reported under UK GAAP; however, the difference is much smaller for AIM listed companies as compared to what...

Manipulating real activities is generally regarded as more damaging to a firm’s long-term growth and value than accrual-based manipulations. We consider this point of view and build on the agency theory framework for investigating the role of independent directors’ (INDs’) tenure and connection to several boards in controlling real-earnings managem...

This paper investigates how human capital in the financial sector affects corporate innovation. Based on China's National Economic Census in 2008, we construct a measure of the financial sector's human capital across prefecture-level cities and then match the data with nonfinancial listed firms over 2009-2017. We find that human capital in the fina...

This study aims to contribute to the relevant accounting, corporate gover-nance, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature by examining the value relevance of mandatory CSR disclosures in China. Using a difference-indifferences (DID) research design and a sample based on propensity score matching (PSM) over the period from 2003 to 2020,...

Drawing on collective contributions and group performance perspectives, this paper examines the role of board diversity in firms’ R&D investment decisions. Building on a fault-line argument about a team’s demographic attributes, this study also decomposes the impact of demographic and cognitive diversity on R&D spending. The study sample contains U...

The study investigates the economic dimensions of war. It considers empirical literature through structure review to explore the different effects of war on businesses. The scope of the study covers all geographical areas and studies dealing with any respective event in the 20th and 21st centuries. However, the study caters for quality, relevance,...

This paper aims to establish a link between aggregate organizational resilience capabilities and managerial risk perception aspects during a major global crisis. We argue that a multi‐theory perspective, dynamic capability at an organizational level and enactment theory at a managerial level allow us to better understand how the sensemaking process...

This paper examines how risk-taking is affected by non-compliance with a ‘comply or explain’ based system of corporate governance. Using System Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) estimates to control for various types of endogeneity, the results of this study show that non-compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code is positively associated...

This paper investigates the role of peer effects in the employee welfare policies of organizations. Using US panel data for a sample of 11,451 firm-year observations from 1996 to 2017, we find that firms' employee welfare decisions are driven by their peers and show that peer firms play a significant role in defining corporate employee welfare poli...

The paper investigates the role of peer effects in the employee welfare policies of organizations. Using US panel data for a sample of 11,451 firm-year observations from 1996 to 2017, we find that firms’ employee welfare decisions are driven by their peers and show that peer firms play a significant role in defining corporate employee welfare polic...

This paper investigates whether shareholder value is affected by non-compliance with the prescriptions of a principle-based 'comply or explain' system of corporate governance in the context of the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. Using System Generalized Method of Moments estimates to control for different types of endogeneity, the main findin...

This study develops a 'comply or explain' index which captures compliance and quality of explanations given for non-compliance with the corporate governance codes in UK and Germany. In particular, we explain, how compliance and quality of explanations provided in non-compliance disclosures, and various other internal corporate governance mechanisms...

This paper aims to capture the perception of banking services providers on how to restore their customers' trust in the UK banking industry. Twenty frontline employees (FLEs) who have customer-facing responsibilities are interviewed and a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts is undertaken. Through the emergence of three different major th...

This paper examines whether major media advertising expenditures help in predicting future earnings. We consider the role of media advertising in firms' marketing efforts and posit that persistent advertisers are more likely to benefit from advertising activities in creating long-lived intangible assets. Employing a sample of persistent UK advertis...

This paper examines whether major media advertising expenditures help in predicting future earnings. We consider the role of media advertising in firms' marketing efforts and posit that persistent advertisers are more likely to benefit from advertising activities in creating long-lived intangible assets. Employing a sample of persistent UK advertis...

This study examines the relationships between performance appraisal (PA) purposes and immediate and ultimate outcomes. Drawing upon expectancy theory and Greenberg's taxonomy, we explore the roles of multiple mediators as sets of person-and organization-referenced ratee reactions and reveal the multiple why-related aspects of the relationships betw...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the non-linear association between trade credit and profitability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, this paper analyses whether the above relationship varies according to financial constraints of SMEs. Design/methodology/approach The authors use panel data methodology to con...

Using concepts from inflation theory, this study examines the relationship between the returns and volatility of cryptocurrencies. We take Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple as the four most popular cryptocurrencies in the market and analyse the relationship between their returns and volatility through the application of GARCH models. The resul...

An outline of the textbook is below: Part I considers the underlying framework for corporate financing and investment decisions; key aspects of this part are the financial objectives of business, the financial environment within which firms operate, the time-value of money and the concept of value. Part II addresses investment decisions and strat...

This study examines the effects of firm performance and corporate governance on chief executive officer (CEO) compensation in an emerging market, Pakistan. Using a more robust Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation approach for a sample of non-financial firms listed at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) over the period 2005 to 2012, we find that...

This paper proposes a model to explain what makes organisations ethically vulnerable. Drawing upon legitimacy, institutional, agency and individual moral reasoning theories we consider three sets of explanatory factors and examine their association with organisational ethical vulnerability. The three sets comprise external institutional context, in...

This study examines the impact of CEO compensation on banks’ risk during both pre and post-financial crisis periods. Our results suggest a negative relationship between CEO bonuses and banks’ risk in the pre-financial crisis period. Similarly, restricted shares and options granted to CEOs in the post-financial crisis period also appear to decrease...

This study examines the effects of lending constraints on the financial policies of UK publicly listed companies during the 2007–2009 financial crisis. Using a sample of 2039 publicly listed firms, the results of our analysis indicate that financial policies of firms are sensitive to variations in the supply of external finance and credit, suggesti...

This paper examines the relationship between board structure and corporate risk taking in the UK financial sector. We show how the board size, board independence and combining the role of CEO and chairperson in boards may affect corporate risk taking in financial firms. Our sample is based on a panel dataset of all publicly listed firms in the UK f...

This paper investigates the implications of the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from the perspective of small and growing companies listed on the United Kingdom's (UK) Alternative Investment Market (AIM). We consider the cost–benefit issues of IFRS adoption and investigate its economic consequences. The results reveal...

This study examines the relationship between corporate governance compliance and firm performance in the UK. We develop a Governance Index and investigate its impact on corporate performance after controlling for potential endogeneity through the use of a more robust methodology Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). Our evidence is based on a sample...

This study examines stock market reaction to the announcement of various forms of seasoned issues in China. Our empirical evidence demonstrates that market reactions differ in ways that suggest a difference between management’s internal assessment and the market’s assessment of the stock price. The market responds unfavourably to the announcement,...

Based on a robust analysis of the existing literature on performance appraisal (PA), this paper makes a case for an integrated framework of effectiveness of performance appraisal (EPA). To achieve this, it draws on the expanded view of measurement criteria of EPA, i.e. purposefulness, fairness and accuracy, and identifies their relationships with r...

Effectiveness of Performance Appraisal: An Integrated Framework

Based on a robust analysis of the existing literature on performance appraisal (PA), this paper makes a case for an integrated framework of effectiveness of performance appraisal (EPA). To achieve this, it draws on the expanded view of measurement criteria of EPA, i.e. purposefulness, fairness and accuracy, and identifies their relationships with r...

Purpose – Islamic banking as a financial institution has always been proclaimed to be different from conventional banking systems. This is mainly due to the prohibition of interest and emphasis on achieving social economic responsibility in society. However, in practice, Islamic banking practices in the UK seem to be far away from its paradigm vers...

Purpose This study seeks to examine self‐perceived entrepreneurial problems and prospects in a post‐war scenario. It aims to present a holistic and historical account of Afghan graduates and their ability to transform into educated entrepreneurs. The study further aims to highlight entrepreneurial characteristics of the Afghans and link them to the...

In recent years, there has been a growing debate whether advertising expenditures generate intangible assets. The regulatory framework (e.g. International Accounting Standard IAS 38) requires advertising expenditures to be treated as a current period expense. A number of recent studies, however, report a positive and statistically significant relat...

This study explores the funding issues at the early stages of development of computer software and biotechnology small firms in the UK. This study reviewed previous relevant literature in this area and presents empirical evidence derived from an extensive online questionnaire survey. The sample contains a total of 83 small firms, which includes 41...

Auditor independence has received considerable attention in recent years. This is due to the fact that independently audited financial statements may result in the generation of true and fair accounting information which will help stakeholders to form rational expectations about firms and minimise the agency cost. It can also be argued that lack of...

This study examines the funding issues of technology-based small firms and the role of locations where identical firms tend to cluster around a centre of knowledge creation or other research base. In the UK, it is commonly known as science parks or business incubators whilst elsewhere it may be known as technopoles, growth poles and/or science citi...

In the last two decades, management accounting research has received considerable attention. The research findings highlight a significant role for management accounting systems in modern organisations due to which management accounting information is now used in planning, decision making, control, performance measurement and business strategy in m...

This study examines whether ACNielsen MEAL major media advertising expenditure measures, that are publicly available at a cost, have value relevance. Our results suggest that these advertising-expenditure measures are positively associated with market value. We also find little difference in the value relevance of these expenditures among different...

This paper presents a review of the relevant empirical literature on advertising value relevance. The current dominant accounting practice is to treat advertising as a current period expense. There has been growing evidence, however, to suggest that advertising should be viewed as an investment in long-term brand equity. While the primary focus is...

The key objective of this article is to analyse the stock market reaction to capital expenditure announcements by UK firms. To attain such an objective, we adopt an 'event study' methodology. We analyse a large sample of 884 capital expenditure announcements made by 426 companies allocated in different sectors over a period of 14 years from 1990 to...

Significant market value effects of R&D are found for UK firms of all sizes. Sector-based analyses indicate large, positive and statistically significant influences of R&D on market values of UK firms in both manufacturing and nonmanufacturing sectors.

The paper focuses on the management accounting change processes and practices in Libyan companies. Research concentrates on the concept of management accounting change in a developing country and in particular on the Libyan companies and how the companies have responded to the changes in business and regulatory environment in the process of transit...

This study examines the separate value relevance of earnings, book value and their components in profit and loss-making firms. The investigation take place in a context that both profit and loss-making firms have different features that might affect conclusions concerning the value relevance of earnings and book value partitions. Thus, we are estab...

This paper explores funding issues at the early development stages of Technology-Based Small Firms (TBSFs) spun-out from universities, non-university research organisations and parent companies. This paper presents empirical evidence for the UK, derived from an extensive online questionnaire survey. The sample consists of 53 spin-offs representing...