The impact of accounting transparency and accountability on financial performance and social development: The case of G-20

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the impact of transparency and accountability practices on the financial performance of enterprises and then to analyse the relationship between transparency and accountability practices of enterprises and social development. In the study, one-way panel data estimation methods are used since the data set contains time series and unit variables. The study covers the G-20 countries [United States of America, Germany, Australia, China, France, India, India, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Canada, Turkey, South Korea, Russia, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia] and the top twenty-five enterprises with the highest active market capitalisation in 2021 listed in the stock exchanges of these countries outside the financial sector. However, the European Commission representing more than one country and Saudi Arabia, Argentina and the Republic of South Korea were excluded from the scope of the study due to insufficient data for the period under study. The period of the study was determined as 2010-2021 and the analysis was carried out with annual periodic data. Transparency and accountability and financial performance data of enterprises were obtained from Datastream database. "Human Development Index and Sustainable Development Goals Index" were used in the study to represent social development. The findings obtained within the scope of the analyses of the study are summarised as follows: In terms of the countries selected for the sample, transparency and accountability affect return on assets for businesses in Brazil and South Africa; return on equity for businesses in Italy, UK, South Africa, France, Indonesia, Germany, Australia, USA, Turkey, Mexico, China and Brazil; Return on invested capital for enterprises in India, Japan, South Africa, Germany, Australia, Turkey, China and Brazil; Tobin's Q ratio for enterprises in UK, India, Germany, Australia and Canada; and PD/DD ratio for enterprises in Turkey, Russia, Mexico, Italy, USA, UK, India, South Africa, Australia and Canada. On the other hand, it can be shared that ESG disclosure scores, which represent the level of transparency and accountability, positively affect the Human Development Index (except for enterprises in South Africa, Indonesia, China and Brazil) and the Sustainable Development Goals Index (except for enterprises in Brazil and Australia), which represent the level of social development.