Issue #2 (Volume 7 2026)

Type of the article: Research Article

In the dynamic landscape of emerging economies like Vietnam, digital transformation is increasingly recognized as a strategic imperative for enhancing corporate governance and transparency. This study aims to evaluate the direct impact of technological integration on internal control effectiveness and investigate the moderating mechanism of firm size in this relationship. To ensure representativeness across small, medium, and large organizational scales, a stratified random sampling technique was employed. The quantitative data were collected over a six-month period from October 2024 to March 2025. A structured questionnaire, validated by experts and utilizing a 5-point Likert scale, was distributed via email to key personnel in Vietnamese enterprises, resulting in 452 valid responses. The partial least squares structural equation modeling method was applied to analyze the data, specifically chosen for its suitability with non-normal distributions. The results demonstrate that digital transformation exerts a substantial positive influence on internal control effectiveness (β = 0.424, p-value < 0.001), confirming that digitization significantly bolsters risk management capabilities. Crucially, the analysis identifies a statistically significant negative moderating effect of firm size (β = –0.190, p-value < 0.001). These findings indicate that the positive impact of digitalization on internal control diminishes as organizational scale increases. The study concludes that while large corporations face structural inertia, small and medium-sized enterprises leverage their agility to achieve superior control outcomes, necessitating tailored strategies for different enterprise scales.

Type of the article: Research Article

In contemporary corporate governance, rigorous expenditure control is essential for financial stability and for mitigating agency costs. This article investigates the influence of financial management information system functional maturity and internal audit effectiveness on expenditure control efficiency and examines the mediating role of financial information quality in Vietnamese listed companies. A quantitative approach was employed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze data collected from 258 respondents, each representing a distinct listed enterprise during the first half of 2025. The results provide quantitative evidence supporting all hypotheses. Specifically, financial management information system maturity positively influences financial information quality (β = 0.400) and expenditure control efficiency (β = 0.349). Internal audit effectiveness also positively influences information quality (β = 0.265) and control efficiency (β = 0.208). Furthermore, financial information quality directly enhances control efficiency (β = 0.399) and significantly mediates the relationships between system maturity (indirect effect = 0.160) and internal audit effectiveness (indirect effect = 0.106) on expenditure control. The model explains 46.8% of the variance in expenditure control efficiency. These findings conclude that technological infrastructure and independent oversight optimize governance performance primarily through producing highly reliable financial data, offering vital insights for executives to standardize internal control protocols in volatile markets.

Type of the article: Research Article

This study examines how accounting-based financial performance and corporate governance affect firm value among Indonesian listed technology firms. The study analyzes panel data from 28 technology companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2021–2024. The data were obtained from annual reports, audited financial statements, corporate governance disclosures, and capital market information. Panel regression analysis was applied, and the Fixed Effects Model was selected based on model specification tests. Corporate governance and accounting-based financial performance are measured using standardized equal-weighted composite indices constructed from their respective indicators. The corporate governance index was constructed from board independence, board size, audit committee size, and ownership concentration, while the financial performance index was constructed from ROA, ROE, TATO, current ratio, and reverse-coded DER. The results show that the corporate governance composite index has a positive and significant effect on firm value, with a coefficient of 0.263 and a t-statistic of 2.791. The accounting-based financial performance composite index also has a positive and significant effect on firm value, with a coefficient of 0.415 and a t-statistic of 4.526. Furthermore, the interaction between the corporate governance index and the financial performance index is positive and significant. These findings indicate that corporate governance strengthens the value relevance of financial performance. The model has strong explanatory power, with an adjusted R² of 0.672. The study concludes that profitability and leverage remain relevant accounting-based for firm valuation, while corporate governance enhances transparency, financial control, and investor confidence in Indonesian technology firms.

Type of the article: Research Article

A comparative assessment of how audit firms’ attributes affect financial performance using both market-based and traditional metrics remains limited in emerging markets. Hence, the study evaluated the comparative effect of audit firms’ attributes on financial performance measured by market-based and traditional metrics. Secondary data from thirty-five manufacturing companies listed at the Nigerian Exchange Group from 2012 to 2022 were analyzed. These companies are purposively selected from a population of fifty-six. Descriptive statistics and panel data regression analysis were used in the data analysis. Results indicate that audit firm resource availability has a significant positive effect on earnings per share (β = 2.1550; p ≤ 0.05), while other proxies of audit firm attributes do not have a significant effect when traditional metrics of financial performance (i.e., earnings per share and share price) were used. However, when market-based metrics of financial performance (market value added and economic value added) are used, audit firm resources availability has a positive significant effect on both market value added (β = 3.842; p ≤ 0.05) and economic value added (β = 0.1789; p ≤ 0.05). The study concluded that audit size, tenure, and industry specialization do not influence firm financial performance, but audit resource availability does. Besides, using market-based financial performance metrics yields more consistent results than traditional metrics.