Hien Nguyen Thi Thu

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure plays a pivotal role in expanding investment opportunities, enhancing operational efficiency, and strengthening transparency and accountability to meet stakeholder demands. This study investigates the determinants influencing CSR disclosure’s extent and quality, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of how organizational, institutional, and stakeholder-driven factors shape transparent reporting practices. Using time-series data spanning six years (2017–2022) collected from 200 Vietnamese-listed enterprises annually, this research employs the ordinary least squares (OLS) method for quantitative analysis. The findings reveal that board independence, awards, company size, and financial performance significantly and positively influence both the extent and quality of CSR disclosure. Conversely, industry sensitivity negatively impacts CSR disclosure, while financial leverage exhibits mixed effects – positively affecting the extent but negatively influencing the quality of disclosures. Notably, company size emerges as the strongest determinant of CSR disclosure, underscoring the critical role of larger firms in driving transparent reporting practices. In contrast, industry sensitivity demonstrates the weakest effect on the extent of CSR reporting, suggesting that internal firm characteristics may outweigh industry-specific pressures. Based on these findings, the study recommends that Vietnamese regulatory bodies prioritize company size over industry type when designing CSR disclosure policies. This study provides valuable insights into the evolving dynamics of CSR disclosure in emerging markets like Vietnam, highlighting the need for context-specific strategies to enhance corporate accountability and sustainable development.

Acknowledgment
The author thanks everyone who helped make this study possible.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This study investigates the relevance of corporate governance mechanisms and ownership structure in shaping real earnings management behavior in an emerging market context. The objective of this investigation is to evaluate whether board characteristics and ownership types influence firms’ engagement in real earnings management. A balanced panel dataset comprising 434 non-financial firms listed in Vietnam over the period 2020–2024, totaling 2,170 firm-year observations, is utilized. The empirical analysis employs ordinary least squares, fixed-effects, random-effects, and feasible generalized least squares models to address heteroskedasticity and serial correlation, thereby ensuring robust estimates of the relationships. The results reveal systematic and statistically significant associations between governance attributes and real earnings management. Notably, larger boards are associated with lower levels of real earnings management, suggesting that expanded board structures enhance monitoring capacity and curb opportunistic managerial behavior. Additionally, institutional ownership and state ownership exhibit an inverse relationship with real earnings management, implying that these ownership structures bolster external oversight and discipline managerial discretion. Conversely, increased board independence, financial expertise among board members, and managerial ownership are associated with greater engagement in real earnings management, suggesting that formal governance frameworks do not invariably translate into effective substantive monitoring in emerging markets. Overall, these findings support the view that governance and ownership mechanisms operate asymmetrically in emerging markets, underscoring that strengthening the effectiveness of monitoring structures – beyond their mere formal adoption – is vital to improving financial reporting quality and promoting the sustainability of corporate performance.

Acknowledgments
This research is partly funded by University of Finance – Marketing.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Board characteristics play a critical role in shaping corporate transparency and preventing financial misreporting in emerging markets. This study investigates how the independence, size, gender diversity, and meeting frequency of boards of directors influence the likelihood of financial statement fraud among listed firms in Vietnam, while also examining the moderating effect of audit committees. Using a balanced panel dataset of 2,584 firm-year observations from 323 non-financial companies listed on the Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi Stock Exchanges during 2015–2022, logistic regression analysis (Stata 17) was used to test the proposed hypotheses. The results show that board independence and board size significantly reduce the likelihood of financial statement fraud, aligning with agency and resource dependence theories. Although gender diversity has no significant effect in the baseline model, it becomes negatively significant when the audit committee is included, indicating that effective oversight enhances the governance role of diverse boards. Additionally, the previously positive relationship between meeting frequency and fraud becomes insignificant when an audit committee is present, confirming its neutralizing effect. These findings highlight that the audit committee is a vital governance mechanism that enhances monitoring quality, reinforces accountability, and promotes ethical behavior. The study provides important insights for regulators and firms in Vietnam by emphasizing the need to strengthen audit committee independence, promote board diversity, and advance professional governance to reduce fraudulent reporting and support sustainable corporate integrity in emerging economies.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
In developing economies with weak institutional enforcement, the dependability of financial reporting remains a significant issue for investors and regulators. This study examines the relationship between audit committee attributes and the quality of financial reporting among non-financial publicly listed companies in Vietnam, an emerging economy where the Vietnamese government officially established audit committees as a new governance structure through Enterprise Law No. 59/2020/QH14, which replaces the mostly ceremonial Supervisory Board model. A balanced panel dataset comprising 455 firm-year observations from companies listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and Hanoi Stock Exchange between 2018 and 2022 is utilized. A binary logistic regression model is employed to assess whether the presence and effectiveness of audit committees improve financial reporting quality, indicated by the receipt of unqualified audit opinions and the timely disclosure of financial statements. The results show a strong positive link between having an audit committee and the quality of financial reporting (odds ratio = 23.415, p < 0.001). This means that companies with a formal audit committee are about 23 times more likely to have better reporting quality. In addition, the chairperson’s professional expertise (odds ratio = 1.477, p < 0.05) and the frequency of audit committee meetings (odds ratio = 1.156, p < 0.05) both have a big effect on better reporting outcomes. These findings suggest that governance effectiveness, rather than mere formal adoption, is the primary determinant of reporting quality in weak institutional environments.