Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of financial leverage on firm’s performance in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Additionally, this paper investigates the impact of recent financial crisis on GCC firms. Design/methodology/approach – The authors...

Purpose – The objective of this study is to test whether financial flexibility has value. Using the current financial crisis, the authors investigate whether firms that built up financial flexibility over the years preceding the crisis yield superior performance during the financial crisis....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate textual issues and communication patterns of CEOs/chairmen/presidents’ letters to shareholders in the post-2008 financial crisis period. By taking a global perspective, the work specifically explores how 307 banks from 15 countries...

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the effect that the recent financial crisis had on auditor conservatism in the form of increased going-concern opinions. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a sample of US’ distressed firms from 2005 to 2011 to test the change in going-concern...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to primarily examine the trend of hidden values and use of intellectual capital (IC) information narratives of leading Malaysian companies in the context of the recent financial crisis. The study then assesses the implications of IC information on a firm’s...

Purpose – This paper aims to study the formation and amplification mechanism of the financial crisis and business cycle and also discuss the related optimal rules for the central bank and government. Design/methodology/approach – This study is developed basically on a simple financial...

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to empirically analyze the influence of the financial crisis on the investment behavior of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). Design/methodology/approach – Using 615 deals from 20 SWFs, a series of research are designed and conducted to compare the SWFs'...

Purpose – This study aims to propose the idea of which macro-factors and how the macro-factors impact on the gold price. Design/methodology/approach – An EGARCH model is applied to test the volatility of gold price. A VAR method is applied to validate the idea by decomposing gold's value...

Purpose This study aims to provide additional insights by further investigating the governance aspects including board composition, risk monitoring and management by the board, ownership structures as well as the incentive compensation. Design/methodology/approach This study investigates the...

Purpose – In this paper, two different ownership structures in Belgian banks are studied to see whether this had an impact on how these banks went through the financial crisis of 2007-2008. On the one hand, there is the concentrated ownership structure with a number of major shareholders,...