Type of the article: Research ArticleAudit committees are key in corporate reporting, ensuring credibility through internal controls, assurance processes, and risk management. This study examines the relationship between audit committee characteristics and Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting quality among the top 100 Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed corporations. Using agency and legitimacy theories, the study analyzes how audit committees serve as mechanisms for lowering information asymmetries and attaining legitimacy through transparent Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting. It focuses on three audit committee attributes: independence, meeting frequency, and average age. Panel data regression models using Ernst & Young’s Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards were used. Data were obtained from the Bloomberg database spanning five years (2017–2021). The results reveal a significant positive correlation between Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting quality and audit committee independence (p-value < 0.05), but no significant relationship for meeting frequency or average age (p < 0.05). The findings highlight the importance of internal assurance in enhancing Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting, addressing stakeholder concerns on sustainability and corporate responsibility. The study contributes to the governance literature by offering actionable insights for firm managers and evidence that stronger audit committee independence enhances governance structures. This study underscores the need for policies that improve Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting quality and suggests further exploration of qualitative audit committee attributes influencing Environmental, Social, and Governance disclosures. It added to the ongoing debate examining the effect of audit committee characteristics on Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting quality in South Africa’s context.Acknowledgment Gratitude is extended to the anonymous referees for their helpful and thoughtful suggestions, recommendations, and constructive comments, by which the paper was substantially improved. Moreover, the University of KwaZulu Natal is acknowledged for providing excellent research support and facilities. Notably, the article has never been published previously. The paper was extracted from Ruth Mutsa Ruziwa’s Masters dissertation, which was submitted to the University of KwaZulu Natal, with first authorship of this article attributed to the same. 

One of the industries with the fastest development is the hospitality and tourism (HoReCa) sector. However, there is also a growing trend in this sector to evade some state taxes. Despite promises that digitalization will reduce tax evasion, this practice nevertheless is a serious threat to the economy and the state. This study aims to process a comprehensive model for screening and risk assessment of tax fraud in the HoReCa sector in Romania. In this sense, an empirical study was conducted using an econometric model to detect tax evasion in the HoReCa sector in Romania, based on a sample of 50 firms for each sub-sector (hotels, restaurants, cafes), analyzing the period 2018–2022. The dependent variable of the model was the tax evasion risk indicator, calculated as the difference between the average financial ratios of each firm and the average for the entire sector. The results show that the leverage ratio has the strongest positive impact on the tax evasion risk indicator. The fixed asset turnover ratio and the accounts receivable turnover ratio also have a significant impact, indicating false sales reports or collection irregularities. The solvency ratio and the immediate liquidity ratio show positive effects on the risk of tax fraud, while the net rate of return is the only one with a negative effect, suggesting that profitable entities are less prone to tax evasion. The proposed model provides a solid basis for identifying high-risk companies directing tax authorities to improve supervision in the HoReCa industry. The findings also highlight the importance of further automating tax reporting systems to reduce the risks of evasion.

The purpose of this study is to substantiate the theoretical provisions on the accounting support for sustainability reporting and develop practical recommendations for improving the mechanisms for generating fragments of non-financial reporting based on accounting data. The study is conducted on the example of Ukraine. The paper provides a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications on the reporting in the field of sustainable development. Generalizing the results of the content-context block of the bibliometric analysis allowed identifying seven clusters. In the context of the study, the most relevant is the fourth cluster, which reflects the relationship between sustainability reporting and accounting. To create an effective mechanism for building sustainability reporting, a five-step sequence of actions based on accounting data was proposed, and tables were created to simplify the search for the necessary information to fill out fragments of a sustainability report and assess social and environmental security based on accounting data.

The research is devoted to the analysis of the European and Ukrainian experience of banks’ management report audit assurance, the disclosure of the national features of such assurance using the case study of 75 state-owned banks, banks with private and foreign capital in Ukraine, and the specific features of audit verification of this report in the current crisis conditions. It was discovered that the requirements of national regulatory documents and guidelines for preparing a management report for banking institutions generally comply with the European approaches, particularly with Directive 2014/95/EU, Directive 2013/34/EU, and Directive 2014/56/EU (Legislation of EU, 2013, 2014). However, specific national requirements for the content of the report and the procedure for its audit are duplicated, intersect, and create inaccuracies in the disclosure of non-financial information by banks. Besides, the requirements for the reflection of the information on the management report in the independent auditors’ report of the studied banks of Ukraine are partially met. The common challenges for accounting and audit support for the management report for Ukrainian and European banks are disclosed in terms of the current crisis caused by global health risks and their economic consequences for banks.

Development of an effective logistics infrastructure for companies contributes to ensuring their effective work, directly affects financial performance and requires the establishment of a management and accounting system for logistics costs. Classifying and registering logistics costs becomes more important in this regard. At this stage of Ukrainian accounting practice, there are challenges for logistics costs accounting such as their identification and registration. Methodological basis of study among different logistics concepts (concept of general logistics costs, concept of reengineering business processes in logistics, concept of an integrated logistics strategy, concept of supply chain management) was total logistics costs concept or the concept of full value as well as process-oriented approach. In the work, the generalization and formalization of existing approaches to the logistics costs accounting was made. Feasibility of using a process-oriented approach among other approaches (absorption costing, direct costing target costing, kaizen costing, etc.) were substantiated. The algorithm of identification and registration of logistics costs for Ukrainian enterprises was proposed. It is based on such inclusion in the relevant economic process (supply, production, sales and administration of logistics processes) and the use of a new consolidated account 29 “Logistics costs”. This authors’ approach to solving the problem of identification and registration of logistics costs for accounting purposes allows to optimize and increase the informativeness of accounting logistics costs reflection in Ukrainian accounting practice.

Accounting information presented in financial statements is likened to a set of symbols. These symbols are expected to represent certain realities, which are called semantic meanings. One of the symbols presented in the financial statements is profit. As a communication medium, the presentation of profits must be interpreted exactly the same as the intended meaning, so that accounting information becomes unbiased. The purpose of this study is to reveal the understanding of the concept of profit based on semantic meaning from the point of view of the accounting accountant. This study uses an interpretive qualitative approach. Data were obtained from structured interviews with informants, namely educator accountants in Indonesia with “mainstream and anti-mainstream” schools of thought. The results of the study reveal that the tendency has been a shift in thinking from educator accountants that originated from idealism to being pragmatic. The meaning of profit at the semantic level is not only materially interpreted. Although profit is used as an indicator of the success of the company, profit is interpreted as a representation of changes in the company’s economic reality. That, the meaning of profit reflects the company’s efforts to improve its economic capacity and its usefulness to the wider community. In other words, that profit is an economic information instrument that is expected to provide value-added to its users.

The article is dedicated to the solution of the relevant issue, concerning management of enterprise`s financial sustainability. Financial sustainability assessment is one of the most important principles of enterprise`s activity, which provides information about financial capabilities of the company at the time of its evaluation and for the future. It is a requirement for the enterprise activity, which provides a high level of competitiveness, efficiency and intensity. Thus, the restoration and strengthening of financial sustainability is a priority task for the enterprise, a basic precondition for its effective functioning. The purpose of the research is to analyze financial sustainability and to improve the methods and approaches of its evaluation. The following methods were used in this research: financial and economic analysis, economic and mathematical modeling, analysis and synthesis, comparison. The main results of the study are following: the theoretical and essential characteristics of enterprise financial sustainability has been determined; the financial status of PJSC “Turboatom” has been analyzed; the taxonomic index of financial sustainability has been calculated and the forecast of its significance has been made, the approaches to increase enterprise financial sustainability have been proposed.

The paper investigates issues, concerning financial planning at the enterprise.Methods and models of financial forecasting are analyzed and their unification is proposed.The main problems of financial instruments using (such as financial planning) are described.Planning is important element of management, which ensures achievement of strategic priorities.Effective financial planning is essential tool of achieving of the main goals of the enterpriseprofit maximization and cost of the enterprise.As market conditions in Ukrainian market of goods and services have its own specificity, which is defined, on the one hand, by means of analysis, formation and allocation of financial resources, and, on the other hand, the sources of reserves increasing, in order to implement the operating and investment activities to ensure their sustainable financial development.It should be noted that the formation of these processes has a significant impact on both objective and subjective factors, such as instability of tax policy and regulatory legislation for national currency, the impact of the global economic crisis, reducing the resources and available current assets etc.Thus, the increasing volatility of external environment requires managerial entities to speed decision-making and direct financial planning and forecasting, in order to reduce the impact of exogenous and endogenous factors on the financial activities of enterprises.

The paper is devoted to research of existing variants of land reform in Ukraine towards cancelling the moratorium on the sale-purchase of agricultural lands. The authors prove that the financial function of the land is realized insufficiently, which is connected with the absence of open land market and ineffective functioning of state land regulation financial mechanism. The aim of the paper is to substantiate the directions of state land regulation in Ukraine on the basis of evaluating the economic effect of cancelling the moratorium on the sale-purchase of agricultural lands. The authors analyzed three most likely variants of land reform at the current stage of Ukraine’s economy development, and calculated economic effect from its implementation. Based on the calculations, conclusion is made about the feasibility of gradually cancelling the moratorium, which corresponds to third variant under study, which is offered to be implemented in two stages: 1) sale of state and community lands; 2) sale of private lands. Economic effect of implementing such a variant, calculated by the authors, gives a possibility to create additional annual cash flow to local budgets in the amount of 68-83 %, which is more than the revenue of other variants described in the paper. It is proven that for possibility to put the variant offered into practice, it is necessary to observe some prerequisites (organizational, financial, legal and regulatory), valuation of which enabled to offer the directions to improve state land regulation, the realization of which would favor the full functioning of agricultural land market.