Laith Al-Shouha

Firm value is considered a primary and essential driver for investors when making investment decisions, so they are interested in the quality of the financial data in companies’ annual reports related to firm value in an attempt by the owners to improve the company’s image and raise its value. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between ownership structure and firm value through the mediating role of accrual earnings management. Panel data were extracted from the financial reports of 88 non-financial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange for 11 years (2009–2019). The Barron and Kenny, Sobel, and other test approaches were applied to investigate the mediation effect and mediating relationships. The outcomes identified a positive impact of managerial ownership on firm value and a positive impact of foreign ownership on firm value. Also, it showed a negative impact of managerial ownership and foreign ownership on accrual earnings management, while accrual earnings management positively impacted firm value. Regarding mediating relationships, the results identified a mediating effect of accrual earnings management on the relationship between managerial ownership and firm value and a mediating effect of accrual earnings management on the relationship between foreign ownership and firm value. However, accrual earnings management does not mediate the relationship between family ownership and firm value. This shows the importance of reducing accrual earnings management through the identities of investors (managerial and foreign), which helps increase control and improve the value of a company.

Banking operations have always evolved in tandem with developing technologies in all fields, providing new services to customers and facilitating easier banking transactions. Many banks have adopted modern financial technology, which has immensely impacted their financial performance, often linked to their operation markets and client bases. This study aims to examine the relationship between financial technology and bank performance using panel data for 21 Arabian banks, from Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, from 2015 to 2022. Financial technology was determined by the frequency with which digitalization terminology appeared in annual reports. Bank performance is measured by return on assets and return on equity. Ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares were applied to achieve the objective. The findings reveal that financial technology positively impacts the return on assets for Arabian banks, where a one-unit increase in fintech causes a 0.37 increase in ROA. In addition, financial technology positively impacts return on equity for Arabian banks, where a one-unit increase in fintech leads to a 0.29 increase in ROE. To confirm the study results, robustness was examined for the regression results using sub-period analysis before and during COVID-19. The results obtained using the two sub-periods show that financial technology positively impacts banks’ financial performance in the two sub-periods before and during COVID-19. In addition, financial technology’s impact on financial performance in model 1 and model 2 during COVID-19 (0.78 and 0.47) is higher than its impact before COVID-19 (0.49 and 28).