From Disclosure to Accountability: Integration Mechanisms in ESG Reporting and Implications for Malaysia's Transition to Mandatory Sustainability Disclosure

From ESG Disclosure to Digital-Driven Governance: Evidence From Indonesian Corporations and Infrastructure Ecosystems

What Firms Disclose Versus What Employees Perceive: ESG–SDG Alignment in Kazakhstan

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics are increasingly used to assess corporate sustainability performance, yet their reliance on public disclosure raises questions about whether they capture actual organizational implementation. This study examines the alignment between externally reported ESG–Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) performance and internal perceptions in Kazakhstan, an emerging market characterized by uneven disclosure norms, institutional enforcement, and sectoral exposure. The analysis combines disclosure-based ESGQ scores with original survey data; matched comparisons between the two resulted in 52 responses from 25 firms. Using linear mixed models and principal component analysis, the study identifies a systematic disclosure–perception gap, in which internal perceptions exceed external disclosure-based scores in the governance and SDG dimensions, where standards are least codified and hardest to verify. Additionally, industry membership is more consistently associated with this disclosure–perception gap than ownership structure or firm size. The findings suggest that ESG measurement gaps in emerging markets are not reducible to greenwashing; instead, disclosure-based evaluation systems may under-represent practices that organizational insiders perceive as embedded, although positive response bias among respondents cannot be ruled out. The results support the idea that future research should complement disclosure-based ESG assessment with internal organizational evidence.

Sustainability accounting in a resource-dependent economy: Institutional decoupling in Ghana’s transition from voluntary to mandatory disclosure

This paper asks why Ghana’s rapid construction of a sustainability disclosure architecture has not been accompanied by a commensurate deepening of disclosure practice, and develops a theory-integrated explanation for the coexistence of stable reporting participation and declining disclosure substance as the country approaches mandatory adoption of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. The study adopts a structured narrative review conducted with the procedural transparency of a systematic review and informed by PRISMA reporting conventions. It combines a documentary analysis of primary regulatory instruments issued by the Bank of Ghana, the Ghana Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana, with a documented search of Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and SSRN covering the period 2010 to 2025. Legitimacy, stakeholder, institutional and signalling theory are integrated into a single decoupling framework from which four propositions are derived and tested against the Ghana-specific evidence base. The findings reveal that Ghana has assembled an unusually dense regulatory architecture for an African jurisdiction, yet firm-level evidence shows that disclosure breadth has stagnated while disclosure depth has fallen. Among listed firms, alignment with the TCFD and IFRS S2 frameworks declined from 29 per cent to 19 per cent, and external assurance uptake halved from 50 per cent to 25 per cent, between 2023 and 2024, even as headline reporting participation held steady. This pattern contradicts a straightforward coercive isomorphism account and is better explained by institutional decoupling, in which symbolic, legitimacy-seeking participation persists while substantive and costly compliance is deferred ahead of the 2027 mandatory deadline. As a narrative rather than systematic review, the paper does not claim exhaustive retrieval of the grey literature, and its assessment of instruments whose mandatory phases lie ahead is necessarily provisional. The central empirical claim rests on a single practitioner survey and is treated as a motivating stylised fact rather than an established finding. The paper specifies a panel-based research design for testing the decoupling hypothesis across the 2024 to 2028 transition.. Regulators are advised to prioritise cross-regulator coherence, published reconciliation of competing materiality philosophies and investment in domestic assurance capacity over further expansion of reporting participation. The analysis also shows that even full success in the formal-sector transition would leave the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, the fastest-growing source of mining-related environmental harm in Ghana, outside the reporting perimeter altogether. The paper offers the first integrated account of Ghana’s regulatory architecture, its applicable theory and its firm-level practice evidence within a single analytical frame, and the first application of a decoupling framework to Ghanaian disclosure data spanning the period before and after the ISSB roadmap.

The Evolution of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Disclosure in Corporate Accounting and Reporting Practices

Developments in sustainability issues are prompting companies to integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) aspects into their accounting and reporting practices as a means of enhancing transparency, accountability, and responsibility towards stakeholders. This study aims to analyse developments in ESG disclosure within corporate accounting and reporting practices using a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach. The study employs a qualitative method, examining academic articles sourced from the Google Scholar database. Literature selection was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, followed by content analysis and validation through source triangulation. Research findings indicate that ESG disclosure has driven a shift in accounting practices from a shareholder-centric to a stakeholder-centric approach, improved the quality of reporting through transparency, credibility and the relevance of information, and strengthened the confidence of investors and stakeholders. On the other hand, the implementation of ESG still faces challenges in the form of regulatory fragmentation, differences in reporting standards, limitations in human resource capabilities, and technological readiness. Therefore, regulatory harmonisation, the strengthening of ESG reporting standards, and the enhancement of human resource capacity and the utilisation of digital technology are required to support a more effective and sustainable implementation of ESG.

Does Corporate Digital Governance Influence Corporate Sustainability Reporting Transparency? Evidence From Ghana

Although sustainability reporting has gained prominence as a mechanism for corporate responsibility, the transparency, and credibility of disclosed sustainability information remain inadequate, especially in emerging nations where technology adoption is uneven. This study examines the influence of digital governance (DG) on corporate sustainability reporting transparency (CSRT), taking into account the mediating effect of digital technologies (DTs) and the moderating effect of external assurance (EA). This study is grounded in stakeholder and institutional theory. Primary data were collected from 350 participants from various firms in Ghana using structured survey questionnaires. A purposive sampling approach was used to select participant firms. The data were analyzed using SmartPLS 4, following the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS‐SEM) approach. The study results showed that DG positively and significantly influences CSRT. Moreover, DT significantly mediates the relationship between DG and CSRT, and EA significantly moderates this relationship. The study's insights guide policymakers to promote enabling digital regulatory regimes, as well as business managers investing in technological infrastructure and assurance practices, and to enhance sustainability reporting quality and stakeholder confidence.

GOVERNANCE-BASED SUSTAINABILITY RISK INTEGRATION AND FIRM VALUE: DOES OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE MATTER?

Corporate sustainability has become an essential element of corporate governance, requiring firms to integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into strategic decision-making and enterprise risk management. Although prior studies have widely examined ESG disclosure and sustainability reporting, limited attention has been given to how sustainability-related risks are embedded within governance and risk management processes. Evidence regarding the moderating role of ownership structure in this relationship also remains inconclusive, particularly in emerging markets. This study investigates the effect of Governance-Based Sustainability Risk Integration (GBSRI) on firm value and examines whether ownership structure moderates this relationship. A quantitative explanatory approach was employed using balanced panel data comprising 75 firm-year observations from 15 Indonesian listed companies operating in high-risk industries during 2020–2024. The GBSRI Index integrates the COSO ERM Framework, GRI Standards, and IFRS S1 and S2 into a governance-oriented framework with seven dimensions and 30 indicators. Using MRA with pooled OLS, the study finds that GBSRI has no significant effect on firm value, and ownership structure does not moderate this relationship. Nevertheless, the GBSRI Index contributes to sustainability accounting by offering a comprehensive framework for assessing sustainability risk integration into corporate governance and enterprise risk management, particularly in high-risk industries.