Tuan Dang Anh

Information from financial reports plays an important role for stakeholders in making business decisions. The information efficiency is even more meaningful when it is relevant and useful to users. The purpose of the paper is to examine the impact of control activities on the information efficiency of the financial reports of Forbes enterprises in Vietnam. The paper uses time series data and the sample includes 250 observations from 2016 to 2020. The paper uses ordinary least squares to experimentally test hypotheses. The results indicate there are two factors out of four that have a negative impact on the information efficiency of financial reports, including control activity members and female members of the control activities. The control activity members have a higher impact than female members. To enhance the information efficiency of Forbes enterprises’ financial reports, Vietnamese state agencies should strengthen control and supervision of legal regulations so that Forbes enterprises can raise awareness on the information efficiency of financial reports.

In the trend of globalization, profit is always a concern for companies because the competition is increasingly fierce. With accounting tools and policies, managers of companies can perform profit management. The purpose of this paper is to test the influence of the board of directors on the discretionary accruals in Vietnamese listed companies. The paper uses time series of table data. The sample includes 915 observations of 183 Vietnamese non-financial companies in the period from 2016 to 2020. The feasible generalized least squares method is used to test the hypotheses of the research model. The paper uses two foundational theories, including the agency theory and the signaling theory, to explain the discretionary accruals of Vietnamese listed companies. The results show that the independence of the board of directors, the meetings of the board of directors, and the foreigners in the board of directors influence the discretionary accruals in Vietnamese listed companies. Then, the paper proposes some appropriate policies on regulations to control the discretionary accruals in Vietnamese listed companies to improve the quality of accounting information in the context of regional and international economic integration.

Profitability is a matter of concern for all economic organizations, including banks. The economic problem always poses for banks in maintaining growth and ensuring sustainable stability. Liquidity is always a concern of banks in maintaining profitability. The article aims to test the relationship between liquidity and profitability of Vietnamese listed banks. Data include 18 Vietnamese listed commercial banks for a period of 9 years from 2011 to 2019. The article uses the time series method with the ordinary least square. The results show that liquidity has a positive relationship with the profitability of listed banks including return on assets, return on equity, and net interest margin. As for net interest margin, the liquidity ratio of loans to deposit plus short-term borrowings and short-term bills payable has the opposite effect. To contribute to the stable and sustainable growth of the banking system, the article proposes the policies for the Vietnamese banking system by fully implementing the regulations on liquidity based on the Bank for International Settlements and should forecast the financial developments in the region and the world to have flexible responses to avoid uncertainties, as well as the need to form and maintain funds to timely support for liquidity in the entire banking system.

Financial reporting of enterprises has important implications for information users. The timely provision of financial reporting by enterprises helps investors to make appropriate business decisions. The purpose of the paper is to test the influence of the factors on the timeliness of financial reporting of the Vietnamese listed enterprises. The timeliness of financial statements is determined by the total number of days of difference between the date of signing the audit report and the end of the financial year. The sample includes the top 100 best-listed enterprises of the Vietnamese stock market. The paper uses time series with panel data. The data are collected from annual and financial reports for the period from 2016 to 2020. The paper performs quantitative research to test the hypotheses. The results verify two factors, such as return on equity and audit type, have a negative effect on the timeliness of financial reporting. Audit type has the most influence on timeliness. Research also shows some listed enterprises have not yet complied with regulations on timely information disclosure. The paper proposes some appropriate policies for Vietnamese listed enterprises to ensure the timeliness of information.

Earnings management is the practice of adjusting accounting policies to change earnings. It affects the earnings of the banking industry, including listed commercial banks. It also reduces the trust of investors because the information provided is unreasonable for the bank system. Corporate governance as a management organization can prevent earnings management in the banking industry. The paper aims to consider the impact of corporate governance on the earnings management of listed commercial banks in Vietnam. The paper uses a time series of ten years from 2012 to 2021. The research uses experiments to test the hypothesis of the model. The result finds three factors positively affect the earnings management of listed commercial banks, including the number of members, professional qualifications, and meetings of the board of directors. The number of members is the strongest influence on earnings management, while the professional qualifications have the lowest effect. The results also demonstrate that listed commercial banks have practiced earnings management in recent years. From there, the paper proposes some policies to prevent the earnings management of listed commercial banks to improve the quality of information.

Human resources have an essential meaning in stability and sustainability of business activities. The quality of human resources contributes to increasing intelligence and thinking, as well as productivity and efficiency in all activities of an enterprise. The study aims to determine the influence of different factors on Vietnamese enterprises’ human resources management, including staffing plans, personnel selection, employee use, resource training, employee rating, and bonus policies. Exploratory factor analysis is employed to test the factors related to the research model. The sample comprises 417 leaders working at Vietnamese enterprises surveyed in 2021. The paper uses panel data to test the regression using OLS method. The selected enterprises are diverse in industry and size to ensure representativeness and are based in Ho Chi Minh City. The results elicit that staffing plans and bonus policies are two of the six factors that positively affect the human resources management of Vietnamese enterprises. The findings also show that staffing plans are the factor that has the most substantial impact on human resources management. Finally, the paper has proposed some policy suggestions to stabilize human resources management at Vietnamese enterprises to attract quality talent.

The information quality contained in financial reporting has practical implications for stakeholders. Accounting conservatism is a criterion that affects the authentication of the value of assets and liabilities related to the financial reporting of enterprises. The role of the board of directors is to supervise the information quality of an enterprise. The purpose of the paper is to examine how the board of directors influences the information quality of financial reporting through accounting conservatism. The survey sample includes 100 listed enterprises that have the highest capitalization in Vietnam’s stock market. Time series data taken for the last five years are published by enterprises from 2018 to 2022. The paper implements the quantitative method of ordinary least squares to test the hypotheses. The results explore that board size, board independence, and audit organization affect the information quality of financial reporting through accounting conservatism. Accordingly, board size has the strongest influence, and board independence has the weakest effect on the information quality of financial reporting through accounting conservatism. The research suggests some policies for Vietnamese listed enterprises to have appropriate regulations for the board of directors and strengthen control of the information quality of financial reporting.

Real earnings management comprises the intervention by managers intending to change business strategies or policies to achieve specific goals. The paper aims to examine trends and levels of real earnings management in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam. The study uses time series data, and the sample includes 1,800 observations from 2016 to 2021. The methods of the study are regression analyses of the real earnings management model. The results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic positively and significantly affected real earnings management of companies listed on the Vietnamese stock exchange. The trends and levels of real earnings management in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic increase depending on the severity of the pandemic. In terms of applications, the study provides evidence that the quality of financial reporting is lower during the pandemic. Listed enterprises in Vietnam are using high financial leverage, leading to a higher vulnerability to shocks such as the pandemic. Therefore, the real earnings management technique mainly used by managers is operating cash flow adjustment by using income maximization strategies to increase the ability to borrow capital to maintain business operations. The study suggests that the choice of income maximization or income minimization strategy depends mainly on commitments with the capital provider (credit institutions), specific contexts, and economic factors.

Financial distress is a matter of concern in the recent period as Vietnam gradually enters global markets. This paper aims to examine the factors of Altman Z-score to detect the financial distress of Vietnamese listed companies. The authors use a sample of 30 delisted companies due to financial problems and 30 listed companies on the Vietnamese stock market from 2015 to 2018. They employ Independence Samples T-test to test the research model. It is found that there are significant differences in the factors of Altman Z-score between the group of listed companies and the group of delisted companies. Further analyses using subsamples of delisted companies show that the factors of Altman Z-score are also statistically different between companies with a low level of financial distress and those with a high level of financial distress. Based on the results, there are some suggestions to assist practitioners and the State Securities Commission in detecting, preventing, and strictly controlling financially distressed businesses. These results also enable users of financial statements to make more rational economic decisions accordingly.

The disclosure level in the interim financial reporting is important to users when making business decisions. Useful information from interim financial reporting ensures timeliness and flexibility of business operations. Information disclosures that ensure completeness will enhance the quality of information for users. The paper aims to examine the factors of corporate governance that affect the disclosure level in interim financial reporting of Vietnamese commercial banks. To test the model, ordinary least squares (OLS) are used. For the data of this study, 286 samples of 30 commercial banks were studied and time series data were used for 10 years from 2010 to 2019. The results show that there are two factors that positively influence the disclosure level in interim financial reporting, such as the Board size and foreign Board members. Thus, the paper offers some policy recommendations for the Central bank of Vietnam and Boards of directors of commercial banks, as well as investors to improve disclosure in interim financial reporting.

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.