Abdulwahid Ahmed Hashed Abdullah

This study examined the impact of cost stickiness on firm profitability in different industrial sectors in Saudi Arabia. The sample size for the study consists of 102 companies listed on Tadawul (Saudi Stock Exchange) from 2009 to 2018. The study estimated a panel regression using pooled OLS, fixed and random effects, and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The variable Return on Investment (ROI) is used as a proxy to measure a firm’s profitability. The results of all the three models are similar to each other. The study found a negative and significant correlation between profitability and cost stickiness, indicating firms’ inability to control the selling, general and administrative costs (SG&A), ultimately leading to lower profits. In addition, firm size is positively associated with profitability, indicating that larger firms are more profitable compared to smaller ones, while the leverage is negatively related to profitability, indicating that companies have higher debts.

The current study examines the association between Corporate Cash Holdings and Firm Value and explores whether the interaction effect of Cash Holdings and financial expertise supports fair value. The study used data on 175 non-financial firms from 2015 to 2023 and employed pooled OLS regression. The fair value variable denoted by Tobin’s Q shows an average (median) of 3.01, while the mean (median) of cash holdings and Audit Committee financial expertise was 18% (13%) and 45% (33%). This study finds a positive coefficient of 0.63, which is significant at less than a 1 percent level, revealing that cash holding increases the value of companies, promoting transaction and precautionary incentives for maintaining cash reserves. Interestingly, the study also finds the positive influence of cash holdings on fair value, which is enhanced by the financial expertise of the audit committee (positive coefficient of 0.04, significant at less than a 1 percent significance level). Moreover, the interaction of cash holdings with audit committee financial expertise found a positive coefficient of 1.84, which is significant at less than a 1 percent significance level. This study presents the importance of the Audit Committee mechanism, particularly with the presence of financial and accounting expertise, in supporting the market value of a company. The outcomes of this study benefit policymakers, managers, and investors regarding effective corporate liquidity management and its effect on fair value.

Acknowledgment
The author acknowledges that the current project under research project number PSAU/2023/02/25900 was funded by Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University.

The study examines the association between the disclosure quality and cost stickiness in the Saudi Arabian context. The influence of accounting information on the decisions of different stakeholders gives a clear idea of the importance of this accounting information and its reporting. Annual accounting reports form the final stage of the disclosure process. Moreover, the recognition of different types of costs is an important issue in cost and management accounting. Submitting quality annual reports has always been an interesting concern to different stakeholders of a company. The study sample consists of 102 companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul between 2009 and 2018. The study uses pooled OLS to investigate the association between financial disclosure and cost stickiness. The relationship of financial reporting quality with the cost of goods sold is negative, positive with the sales cost, and positive and insignificant with administrative costs. The study concludes that variables related to sticky costs affect financial quality disclosures. The impact of sticky cost variables on the quality of disclosures is different due to the transition policies adopted by the Saudi Arabian economy.

It is necessary to understand the customers’ perceptions of internet banking because it helps determining the direction and patterns of intention to continue using internet banking. This could also help bank policymakers to develop appropriate strategies to increase internet banking usage. The study aims to examine the determinants of user’s intention to continue using internet banking since there have been no systematic attempts to understand this aspect, especially in the Indian context. This research suggests and tests an extended model to predict the intention to continue using internet banking in India. The suggested study model was examined using survey data from 206 internet banking users. PLS-SEM was employed for data analysis. The findings imply that the most significant determinants of intention to continue using internet banking are service quality, trust, and user satisfaction. On the other hand, the study finds that intention to continue using internet banking is not impacted by system quality and information quality.