Corporate environmental sustainability and accountability rank among leading factors in the agenda for many companies, given that they are compelled to report on it. Thus, companies make investments in activities that concern corporate sustainability to enforce compliance but make profits. Therefore, this study evaluated the effect of environmental investment on resource efficiency (water and energy consumption) of companies listed in the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Index. The study adopted quantitative method to generate secondary data. The secondary data was collected from annual integrated reports of companies. The secondary data was analysed through multiple regression statistics. Findings from this study indicate that environmental sustainability investment (renewable energy investment, water investment and recycling investment) negatively affected resource efficiency (water consumption and energy consumption). The study recommends that companies should intensify their investment in corporate sustainability to assist in environmental resource conservation.

This study investigates the regulations that have been taken into account regarding the discipline of environmental reporting. Thus, the present paper aims to analyze and discuss the main regulations that have existed for environmental reporting, those that are currently in force and how these regulations will evolve in the future. To this end, the opinions of some researchers highlighted for the specialized literature were highlighted together with the author's own analyses in the field. In particular, the regulations in the field of environmental reporting are analyzed internationally and nationally on financial accounting and reporting, as well as financial audit activities. The paper formulates assessments regarding the preparation of auditors to provide assurance services in the case of environmental and sustainability reporting, in close connection with the actions and activities that should be undertaken for the further improvement and deepening of the regulations in the field.

Nowadays, many companies have adopted non-financial reporting in addition to financial reporting, presenting sustainable development practices. They have prepared and published sustainability reports or non-financial statements to highlight their commitment to sustainability. ESRS - the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, and GRI - the Global Reporting Initiative emphasize social, environmental, or governance impacts. The objective of the research is to present the particularities and requirements regarding the evolution of sustainability reporting of companies in the Romanian pharmaceutical sector. The gaps in non-financial reporting regarding the Comply or Explain Statement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) were also presented. The current research addresses these aspects from an empirical perspective based on the analysis of the reports of companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The exploratory analysis is carried out for the period 2011- 2023. The information was taken from the financial and non-financial reports, available on the official websites of the companies analyzed. The results of the research, although limited to one sector of activity and only to companies listed in the Premium category, on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, these being considered a reporting model for other unlisted companies, demonstrate that in Romania companies do not offer a specific structure of non-financial reporting, the implementation of these reports being still in its early stages. Future research directions may consider a larger sample of companies, both listed and unlisted, from various sectors of activity, in order to be able to perform a comparative analysis by activity areas and to have an exhaustive picture of sustainability practices and existing challenges at the national level.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing real estate valuation with innovative approaches. This article examines several AI methods – Regression Models, Decision Trees, Random Forests, Artificial Neural Networks, and XGBoost – and explores their applications for improving property valuation accuracy and efficiency, with implications for other professions involved, e.g. audit. The author starts by investigating traditional valuation methods' limitations, such as data constraints and subjectivity, and presents how these AI techniques, which are translated in property valuation field as automated valuation methods, tackle these challenges. Regression Models quantify attributes, Decision Trees provide clear insights, Random Forests improve predictions, Artificial Neural Networks design elaborate relationships, and XGBoost furnishes advanced boosting techniques for higher performance. Underscoring that AI is meant to support, not substitute, human assessors, the paper presents how these methods can enhance valuation processes, deliver more reliable valuation reports, and decrease errors, while also exploring future innovations and evolving trends in artificial intelligence for real estate industry and related professions.

The rise of crypto assets presents unique challenges and risks for auditors, requiring a revaluation of traditional auditing practices. This paper explores the inherent, control, valuation, and related risks associated with crypto assets, emphasising the complexities of valuation, compliance, and fraud detection. Starting from a bibliometric visualisation in VOSviewer, it points out thematic trends and key concepts in crypto auditing. The database was downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection (2000-2024 Q3). The findings offer valuable insights for auditors, policymakers, investors, researchers, and practitioners who rely on accurate audits to make informed decisions and build trust and transparency in the crypto ecosystem.

There is currently a heated debate surrounding the proliferation of non-financial reporting regulations, which is why there is great concern about the less likely scenario of harmonization of the various reporting frameworks. Increasing efforts to define global or at least regional nonfinancial reporting regulations and their implementation through reliable corporate reporting systems is limited by the barriers and challenges raised by specific country, industry and company characteristics. The question is how companies adapt to this confusing corporate reporting landscape. The purpose of this paper is to perform a reference analysis regarding the completeness of the reports drawn up from the perspective of the degree of coverage of the GRI checklist. Thus, the Global Reporting Initiative, respectively GRI, developed a template in the form of a checklist for sustainability reporting called the GRI Content Index template, considered a reference element in our analysis regarding sustainability and sustainable development and the mapping of the various SDGs (respectively Sustainable Development Goals known in Romania as Sustainable Development Goals), on a sample of companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The purpose of the research is to provide an image of the level of transparency of companies listed on the stock exchange, regarding the sustainability of business models. The methodology used is based on the quantitative analysis of the GRI index and the practical implications of the study mainly reveal the best practices in the field of sustainability reporting, viewed from the perspective of neo-institutional theory, which highlights the coercive, normative and mimetic forces related to sustainability disclosures.

This paper seeks to present the auditor-client negotiation process from non-financial assurance perspective, as to understand those factors that determine the way auditors conduct negotiations. For this, the authors analyzed a series of articles and publications extracted from Web of Science (WOS) or other research databases. These were selected based on their research topic, that focused mainly on auditor-client negotiation, assurance mission, and non-financial reporting. Further, the paper investigates most relevant research publications starting from year 2000 until present (from citations and journal ranking point of view) with the purpose of identifying those factors influencing the negotiation process when auditing non-financial information. In addition, this qualitative research represents a literature review synthesis of most relevant articles.

The author studied the impact of technological, organizational and environmental contexts on the way of implementing solutions based on Artificial Intelligence. The importance of this topic is given by the increasing interest of companies in all fields of activity in adopting solutions based on Artificial Intelligence to help achieve the desired results. The objective pursued in this research is to carry out an analysis of the current situation of financial services regarding how to implement solutions based on Artificial Intelligence, as well as a practical guide for companies that want to implement Artificial Intelligence. The Technological-Organizational-Environmental framework is a complex and comprehensive research framework for technological solutions. The technology context includes technologies in financial sector companies as well as those provided by technology companies. Organizational context refers to organizational preparation and management support in implementing such solutions. Environmental context refers to industrial characteristics and government regulations. In Romania, there are enough solutions based on Artificial Intelligence, and companies have the necessary infrastructure to implement them. The top management is interested in providing the necessary support for the implementation of solutions based on Artificial Intelligence. Legislative instability does not prevent the implementation process of Artificial Intelligence, but slows it down.

The economic effects of the pandemic, the financial difficulties of companies, but also the expectations of investors and other stakeholders are the prerequisites for implementing and strengthening corporate governance. The research has two components: the first component includes conceptual approaches to corporate governance. The second component includes qualitative research investigating specific aspects of corporate governance at the company level in the pandemic context. The results revealed heterogeneous approaches to corporate governance depending on the sector of activity of the companies and the typology of the corporate governance model.

The Covid Pandemic has this far been a devastating event for the world economy, but it wasn’t the only crisis of the 2020 financial period. Despite the health emergency, military conflict has not halted since the dawn of the coronavirus plague. In the current paper the authors try to analyze the combined impact of the COVID pandemic and war for a sample of 352 Turkish and Azeri equities during the 2019 and 2020 financial periods. Their findings suggest that the Nagorno-Karabakh war enforced timeliness for Azeri and Turkish issuers while overall the relevance of financial statements has dropped during the crisis period of 2020. IFRS compliance became a significant moderating factor during the crisis period. Overall, the year 2020 has been a turning point for accounting practice.