The study objects for determining whether or not a relationship exists between inventory management of the listed pharmaceutical firms at Amman Stock Exchange, and the profitability of these firms, and whether or not inventory management affects firm profitability. Only three pharmaceutical firms were found listed at Amman Stock Exchange by the end of 2020, and therefore, the annual data of the three firms along the period 2009-2019 were collected and used in the analysis and hypothesis testing. Inventory turnover and average inventory holding period were used as indicators for inventory management at a reciprocal form, whereas, return on assets was used as a measure of firm profitability. Using the Pearson correlation method, the analysis and hypothesis testing demonstrated that a significant positive relationship exists between inventory turnover and return on assets, and a negative significant relationship exists between average inventory holding period and return on assets. Moreover, using the ordinary least square method, the study shows that inventory management has a positive significant effect on firm profitability. More studies regarding inventory management and firm profitability relationships, are recommended to be performed on other manufacturing industries than pharmaceutical firms.

This study mainly aimed to examine the effect of internal risks on the financial performance of the Jordanian commercial banks. The study sample comprised the entire commercial banks that are included in the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) spanning the period from 2009 to 2019. The study formulated four hypotheses, which are related to the effects of liquidity risk and leverage risk on the bank’s performance, proxied by ROA and ROE. Based on the results, liquidity risk did not have a significant effect on both ROA and ROE, while leverage risk did not have a significant effect on ROA, but it did on ROE. It can thus be concluded that the use of financial leverage should be taken into consideration because of its negative influence on the banks’ financial performance, specifically on the shareholders’ returns. It is recommended that future studies examine the effect of additional risk types, like credit risk and operational risk on the performance of banks.

This research empirically investigates the role of the enterprise risk management system implementation level in capturing firm managerial incentives. The system plays an important role in understanding the association between international financial reporting standards and the capital market. Listed firms in the Australian market were used for the period 2000-2010 for this purpose. The study results imply that implementing higher levels of ERM by Australian firms during the mandatory IFRS adoption period does not capture firm incentives in IFRS period. Consequently, these results suggest that the implementation of ERM by Australian firms does not reduce the contractual costs between investors and management, whilst adopting IFRS does. Future research may use other techniques and/or strategies other than ERM, to capture the firm incentives, and as a result, may have economic consequences.

This research aimed to examine the association between board of directors’ characteristics as a composite measure, the performance of companies in Jordan and the influence of family ownership on this association. Using data on industrial companies indexed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) from 2013 to 2017, a positive association between board characteristics and company performance was found, indicating that higher board effectiveness is associated with more effective monitoring of management behavior. In addition, the association between board characteristics and company performance was strong when there was an interaction with family ownership, as companies with boards with family members achieve higher performance than companies with boards run by external directors. The study findings could be useful to all regulators seeking to improve the quality of monitoring mechanism practices, especially in emerging economies.

The main purpose of the study is to investigate whether the cash conversion cycle has an impact on the financial performance of listed chemical firms in Amman Stock Exchange. To achieve the objectives of the study, data covering the period 2010-2019 of 5 among a total of 6 listed chemical firms were collected and used in analysis and hypotheses testing. The excluded firm was eliminated because its information was incomplete along the study period. Return on equity and earnings per share were used as indicators for financial performance in a separate form. The study involved two hypotheses, and both hypotheses were tested under the 95 percent level of confidence. Descriptive statistics including the mean and variance, in addition to correlation, were used in data analysis. Using both of the multiple and single regression models, the study showed that the cash conversion cycle had a significant impact on the financial performance of firms. Moreover, both of the controls were found significantly affecting the financial performance.

This research aims to study the effect of the human resources cycle in improving the effectiveness of the accounting information system in Jordanian banks by measuring the effect of the number of employees, total training expenditures, the total of salaries and rewarding workers and the total expenditures of workers in Jordanian banks on improving the effectiveness of the accounting information system in Jordanian banks through the net profit after tax deduction for the years from 2010 to 2019. The results of the study indicate that there is a statistically significant effect at the level of confidence of 5% for the number of employees, total training expenditures, and total employee expenditures on improving the effectiveness of the information system in Jordanian banks and the absence of a statistically significant relationship to the effect of total salaries and remunerations of workers, as the parameter was -5.934. The study recommended measuring the effect of the human resources cycle in improving the effectiveness of the information system in Jordanian banks in terms of liquidity and solvency, and in other business sectors.

The study aimed to explore the relationship between corporate governance (i.e., tasks and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, disclosure and transparency, shareholders’ rights and fair treatment of shareholders, and audit and internal control) and bank performance. Data were collected using a questionnaire distributed to a sample consisting of managers of commercial banks in the northern region in Jordan. The study found a significant and positive relationship between corporate governance and bank performance. Particularly, the study pointed out two principles (i.e., tasks and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, and audit and internal control) were positively related to bank performance, while there were no significant relationships between the other two principles (i.e., disclosure and transparency as well as shareholders’ rights and fair treatment of shareholders). It was concluded that corporate governance is very critical for enhancing bank performance. Additionally, commercial banks should pay more attention to all principles of corporate governance.

This paper examines the potential determinants associated with a firm’s decision to use a corporate website. The probability of web-based corporate reporting adoption was measured by using a dichotomous variable, where one is given if the firm has a website and zero otherwise. Based on a sample of 1217 US listed firms, it was found that 950 firms have a website and 267 do not. Those firms with a website are larger, more profitable and have a larger board size with more female directors when compared with firms without websites. In addition, the results of the regression analysis revealed that firm size, profitability, leverage, board size and the percentage of female directors in the boardroom have a significant positive impact on the probability of a firm having a website. However, firm age has a significant negative impact on the probability of web-based corporate reporting adoption. A weakness in the previous literature has been the neglect of firms without an online presence, which implies a potential selection bias. Consequently, this research contributes to the international accounting literature by expanding our understanding in relation to the probability of firms adopting web-based corporate reporting and the economic consequences of them doing so through reducing asymmetric information, which acts as an incentive to encourage investment.

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected the entire global financial market in an unprecedented way. Due to disruptions in the global market, the Jordanian financial market also responded to the pandemic and observed sudden volatility. The outbreak of the virus has led the management of the Jordanian market (Amman Securities Exchange / ASE) to halt trading on the secondary market during the period 17 March 2020 – 9 May 2020. Hence, using daily closing prices of listed firms, this paper empirically examines the market’s liquidity cost before its closure (2 January 2020 – 16 March 2020) and after (10 May 2020 – 31 December 2020). The premise of this objective rests on the fact that the trading activity on the secondary market, following the resumption of trading is carried- out within uncertain circumstances. The data used in this study comes from the daily trading reports published by ASE. All listed companies are included in the analysis. Based on the daily closing bid and ask prices, we calculate the daily spreads during two sub-periods (2 January 2020 – 16 March 2020 and 10 May 2020 - 31 December 2020). We then regress the daily spreads on daily stock prices, number of daily contracts, risk, and where the companies list their shares (first or second market). The main findings of this paper are threefold. First, liquidity cost in the ASE is relatively high. Second, following the resumption of trading on the secondary market, liquidity cost has increased. Third, other known determinants of liquidity cost are significant and have the expected coefficient signs. The fact that liquidity cost in the ASE is high, and higher even after the resumption of trading, necessitates some clear policy measures. These include a reduction in the currently used minimum tick.

The present study empirically investigates the long-run nonlinear relationship between the shadow economy and financial development targeting developing small open countries, such as Jordan. The study applied the cointegration test as an estimation technique in order to achieve its aim. The data used were mainly taken from Jordanian economy during the period (1990-2019). According to the test of Johanson cointegration, the empirical results of this study showed evidence of a long run inverted U-shaped relationship between the shadow economy and financial development. The results also showed that there is a long run positive relationship between inflation and the shadow economy. Consequently, these results lead to a profound implication when adopting policies to reduce the size of the shadow economy.