Mohammed Amine

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Earnings management remains a persistent concern in African markets, particularly in environments where ownership structures are concentrated and regulatory frameworks are still evolving. This study examines how different forms of ownership shape earnings management practices in Morocco, using a panel of 34 non-financial firms listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange over the period 2018–2022. Earnings management is measured through discretionary accruals estimated using the performance-adjusted Kothari model, and the empirical analysis relies on a two-step GMM estimator. The findings reveal a heterogeneous impact of ownership structure on earnings management. Institutional ownership and foreign ownership are both negatively associated with earnings management, indicating that firms with stronger institutional or international participation tend to exhibit more discipline in financial reporting. In contrast, family ownership and managerial ownership are positively associated with earnings management, suggesting a greater propensity for discretionary accounting practices in firms where control or decision-making power is concentrated among family members or managers. State ownership and ownership concentration do not exhibit significant effects, pointing to a limited role of public participation or dominant shareholders in constraining reporting discretion. These findings highlight that ownership composition is a key determinant of reporting behavior in the Moroccan context, with clear differences between monitoring shareholders and controlling shareholders.

Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST) as part of the “PhD-Associate Fellowship – PASS” program, awarded to Aymane Chemmaa.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
This paper investigates the impact of colonial ties, cultural proximity, and host-country market size on outward foreign direct investment from Arab Maghreb Union countries, focusing on both greenfield investments and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Using the Generalized Method of Moments on a panel dataset of 556 transactions over the period 2004 to 2022, captured by the number of deals, we find that colonial ties and African cultural proximity positively influence both greenfield investments and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. However, Arab cultural proximity and host-country market size influence only greenfield investments. Among the variables studied, colonial ties have the greatest impact, followed by African cultural proximity. The estimated coefficients indicate that the magnitude of these effects is substantially larger for greenfield investments than for cross-border mergers and acquisitions, highlighting important differences in how firms respond to host-country characteristics across entry modes. This pattern is consistently observed across baseline estimations and robustness checks, reinforcing the presence of a clear entry-mode asymmetry in the determinants of outward foreign direct investment from Arab Maghreb Union countries. Taken together, the results integrate cultural proximity and historical ties into international business theories and provide new insights into the outward investment behaviors of emerging-market multinationals. Moreover, the findings reveal the relevance of leveraging shared history and cultural ties as instruments for attracting investment from Arab Maghreb Union countries, while adopting differentiated strategies for greenfield investments and cross-border mergers and acquisitions.