M40 - Accounting and Auditing: GeneralReturn

The underrepresentation of women in leadership positions is common evidence of gender inequality. Consequently, the European Commission brought a directive to balance the underrepresentation of women on boards in EU countries. Often, females are presumed to be less favourable for top management positions in successful companies and are faced with different obstacles during their careers. However, they possess many different characteristics, which makes them excellent leaders and may create positive differences in financial reporting quality (FRQ). Croatia still lags behind other EU countries in terms of the share of women within corporate boards; therefore, in this paper, we aim to investigate whether the FRQ differs based on the boardroom’s gender structure. The research is conducted on a sample of listed Croatian companies using univariate and multivariate statistical methods. Two sub-samples were formed in order to capture the effects of the Gender Equality Act (GEA) application. Our results show that women are still underrepresented as board members despite the regulations that introduced a list of activities for gender equality. The gender structure of corporate boardrooms is significantly associated with FRQ, and issuing positive audit opinions is related to tilted-structured management boards, where up to 40% of the board members are women. The contribution of our research is twofold: to investigate the trends and level of gender inequality in leadership positions of Croatian listed companies, and to identify whether the gender structure of top management plays a significant role in a company's FRQ.
Implications for Central European audience: The results of this study provide significant insight into the underrepresentation of women on corporate boards within EU countries. Our findings and recommendations may be of special interest, particularly for Central European countries that share the experience of transition from planned to market economy with Croatia and are characterised by similar institutional, political, economic and financial systems. The topic is crucial in contemporary business, especially following and adapting to the directives brought by the European Commission, pinpointing the issue as a current and future challenge.

Many sources have been noted that environmental protection measures are economically beneficial as their application allows to increase the efficiency of resource use, reduce operating costs, increase company’s profit and also to avoid ecological accidents. The aim of the article is to analyse the environmental component of sustainable development in terms of its expression in the corporate activities. And according to results of analysis to create a model whose application not only demonstrates the actions needed to strengthen the environmental sustainability of corporations, but also allows an assessment of their potential and readiness for sustainable development. The elements of created model define the environmental actions to be taken also provide structural basis for implementation of these processes. So, the model serves as an instrument to show directions of improving the environmental sustainability of the Company's activities. Research was based by using the methods of logical assessment, systematization, and comparison of information, selecting the most important information, which describes the environmental sustainability. The application of the actions in the company's activity would allow to gradually approach the sustainability of the company activities. Possibility to use the model and its suitability has been approved by Lithuanian construction companies. The application of the model will allow companies better implementation environmental actions which will improve the company's results of economic performance and will also help public institutions distributing funds for environmental purposes by projects. Construction companies were ranked in accordance with possibility to implement environmental measures by use proposed methodology.