Purpose – The primary purpose of this paper is to identify the so-called core authors and their publications according to pre-defined criteria and thereby direct the users to the fastest and easiest way to get a picture of the otherwise pervasive field of bankruptcy prediction models. The authors aim to present state-of-the-art bankruptcy prediction models assembled by the field’s core authors and critically examine the approaches and methods adopted.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a literature search in November 2022 through scientific databases Scopus, ScienceDirect and the Web of Science, focussing on a publication period from 2010 to 2022. The database search query was formulated as “Bankruptcy Prediction” and “Model or Tool”. However, the authors intentionally did not specify any model or tool to make the search non-discriminatory. The authors reviewed over 7,300 articles.
Findings – This paper has addressed the research questions: (1) What are the most important publications of the core authors in terms of the target country, size of the sample, sector of the economy and specialization in SME? (2) What are the most used methods for deriving or adjusting models appearing in the articles of the core authors? (3) To what extent do the core authors include accounting-based variables, non-financial or macroeconomic indicators, in their prediction models? Despite the advantages of new-age methods, based on the information in the articles analyzed, it can be deduced that conventional methods will continue to be beneficial, mainly due to the higher degree of ease of use and the transferability of the derived model.
Research limitations/implications – The authors identify several gaps in the literature which this research does not address but could be the focus of future research.
Practical implications – The authors provide practitioners and academics with an extract from a wide range of studies, available in scientific databases, on bankruptcy prediction models or tools, resulting in a large number of records being reviewed. This research will interest shareholders, corporations, and financial institutions interested in models of financial distress prediction or bankruptcy prediction to help identify troubled firms in the early stages of distress.
Social implications – Bankruptcy is a major concern for society in general, especially in today’s economic environment. Therefore, being able to predict possible business failure at an early stage will give an organization time to address the issue and maybe avoid bankruptcy.
Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to identify the core authors in the bankruptcy prediction model and methods field. The primary value of the study is the current overview and analysis of the theoretical and practical development of knowledge in this field in the form of the construction of new models using classical or new-age methods. Also, the paper adds value by critically examining existing models and their modifications, including a discussion of the benefits of non-accounting variables usage.

Purpose – The article aims to determine the implementation extent of the regulations around appointment and characteristics of audit committees and regulations concerning disclosure of information about the audit committee in Polish practice.
Design/methodology/approach – The author analyzed the informative content of management reports and corporate governance statements. The survey covered all domestic companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the years from 2017 to 2021.
Findings – The new guidelines resulting from hard law had a significant impact on the corporate governance on the Polish capital market. According to the research results, over the analyzed years, the share of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, which appointed an audit committee within the supervisory board, clearly increased. Moreover, the research found that in the period under study, not all companies fulfilled the obligation to disclose information about the audit committee resulting from hard law. In particular, this applies to disclosures on how the members of the audit committee acquired competencies in the area of accounting.
Practical implications – The article concerns the operation of the audit committee in public companies listed on the Polish capital market.The study can serve as a reference point for further research on corporate governance. The results of the research may be an indication for those who create legal solutions in the area of corporate governance.
Originality/value – This is the first such comprehensive study on the characteristics of the audit committee and disclosures about the audit committee resulting from the introduction of hard law in this area.

Purpose: This article aims to review critical thinking (CT) as a future skill in business.

Design/methodology/approach – The study employed two research methods: science mapping analysis based on bibliometric keyword co-occurrence data and systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines. The application of two distinctive research methods meant that we could obtain a broad picture thematic overview as well as a detailed, fine-grained insight into the content of CT business research.

Findings – Research in CT in business studies is dominated by themes related to education, university and learning that far outweigh CT business application, which focuses on three research axes. These are specific business functions (e.g. accounting, marketing, human resources and identifying business opportunities), certain skills used in business (e.g. decision-making and creativity) and other business-related topics (including ethics, stakeholder relations and individual employee performance).

Practical implications – The article identifies new research gaps related to the link between CT and business performance, a firm’s ability to innovate and company characteristics. Moreover, the article highlights that CT positively influences business decision-making under the influence of cognitive biases and heuristics.

Originality/value – The article provides the first literature review on CT in business research. It uses a novel method of science mapping analysis to show unbiased algorithmic-based insight into the structure of the research, followed by a systematic literature review.

Purpose: This study investigates the determinants of audit committee (AC) formation in a semi-mandatory setting of a European economy, in which ownership and control are predominantly in the hands of families and business groups, and the voluntary practice of forming an AC has not been widely accepted.

Methodology: This research uses a sample of Polish nonfinancial firms listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) in 2008–2015. The study implemented logistic regression to test the role of the supervisory board (SB) and companies’ compositional characteristics in AC creation.

Findings: Primary analysis provided evidence of an inverted association between commonly accepted determinants of AC formation – such as the number of independent members on the supervisory board (SB) – and accounting and finance expertise of the SB members. The study also revealed that companies with foreign ownership are more likely to have an AC.

Originality: This study indicates an important relationship between the existence of other SB committees as a meaningful determinant of AC formation. This article is valuable for supervisory bodies and regulators as they provide insights into factors that influence audit committee formation.

Purpose: The goal of the article is to systematize the literature related to the role of stakeholder engagement in corporate social practices and related disclosures by identifying the main theoretical lenses, research methods, and topics undertaken by authors of articles under scrutiny.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The article systematically reviews and discusses existing studies in the area of management, social and environmental accounting, intellectual capital, ethics, and accounting. We identify and subsequently analyze 68 articles published over the years 2010–2020.

Findings: According to the study findings, stakeholder theory is most often used as a theoretical background. The survey is the most popular research method, while stakeholder engagement in social practices is the most common research problem investigated by the articles’ authors. Corporate stakeholders’ communication on social media is a new topic that emerged in the literature in the studied period.

Research Limitations/Implications: Our analysis is restricted to articles published in journals included in the ABDC Journal Quality List that are ranked B, A, and A* in a 10-years period.

Practical Implications: The article’s findings may be useful for researchers and practitioners who deal with corporate social practices, disclosures, and stakeholders’ roles in these processes.

Originality/Value: The paper offers an up-to-date literature review, identifies the main themes, research gaps, and provides relevant guidance for future research.

Purpose: The aim of the article is to examine the selected determinants of the expected rate of return on human capital.
Methodology: We conducted an anonymous survey of expected salaries among the Accounting and Controlling students at the Cracow University of Economics, which provided a unique setting for the analysis. On the basis of collected data for the cost of living and the cost of professional education for every participant, we used the human capital model developed by Dobija to compute the perceived level of the human capital of each individual. Then, we compared the expected salaries with the perceived levels of human capital and computed expected rates of return on human capital. The following research methods are used: literature review, statistical tests, econometric modeling.
Findings: On the sample of 754 respondents, we found that male students expect a higher rate of return on their human capital than female students, while older students expect a lower rate of return on human capital than younger students.
Research limitations: Only one field of study was used to measure the determinants of the expected rate of return on human capital.
Originality: We contribute to the salary expectations and human capital literature by identifying a significant gender salary expectations gap that holds even after considering individually assessed costs of living and professional education. Our findings are consistent with the well-known observation that women tend to expect lower salaries than men.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to indicate which information originating in accounting is important for ensuring the information transparency of bankruptcy proceedings.
Methodology: Based on the literature review and the analysis of international legal acts, we determined priority types of information from accounting used in bankruptcy court proceedings. These types included information on the costs of insolvency proceedings, the assumption in the financial statements that there was no going concern, and the book value of assets. A survey was then conducted on a group of specialists in the field of bankruptcy.
Findings: Respondents indicated information on the costs of bankruptcy proceedings as the most important. However, other accounting information under study also received a high assessment from insolvency specialists. The obtained assessments of individual quality features are characterized by high reliability confirmed by low standard errors.
Research implications: Accounting evolves as a response to the information needs of accounting information users. Therefore, knowing these needs may contribute to changes in the requirements regarding the scope of information from accounting that is used in bankruptcy proceedings.
Originality/value: In-depth knowledge of various aspects of the economic side of the bankruptcy phenomenon is part of the current trend in minimizing the negative effects of bankruptcy.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to explore and compare reporting practices on provisions for liabilities in different countries.

Methodology: The research was limited to the types of provisions that are addressed in the International Accounting Standard 37 – Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets. For the purpose of the study, fnancial statements of the biggest public companies in Great Britain, Germany and Poland have been chosen to be taken into consideration. The following detailed issues have been explored: – Presentation of the types of provisions in a statement of fnancial position and additional notes to a fnancial statement, – Presentation of the amounts of provisions made, used, and reversed during a given period and the effects of changes in the discount rate, – Scope and quality of descriptions of the nature of obligations presented by entities. The results of the analysis have been viewed from two perspectives – the areas of compliance and non-compliance of reporting on provisions with IFRS have been identifed and a comparison of the extent of compliance with particular requirements between companies from different countries has been developed.

Findings: The results of the analysis have revealed that companies from selected countries demonstrate different levels of compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Substantial differences in the scope and the quality of descriptive disclosures on provisions have been also identifed.

Originality/value: The study contributes to the research on cross-country differences in reporting practices and indicates the need for a further analysis of the underlying determinants.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to present the extent to which indicators applied by logistics
providers in Poland measure logistics-related processes and performance in the context of implementing
the concept of management accounting in the enterprises that were researched.

Methodology: The research methods used by the authors included a literature review of mainly
German and Polish publications and survey research conducted in 2011–2013 among logistics
enterprises in Poland. This study served as the basis for verifying four hypotheses and formulating
conclusions.

Findings: The main results of this study showed that management accounting systems are implemented
in about half of then logistics providers in Poland covered by the survey. 75% of all enterprises
conducted indicator analysis to evaluate logistics processes, costs and performance, and
90% of the indicators used by these enterprises were of a financial nature.

Research limitations: The main limitation of the research was associated with conducting the survey.
The low return rate of completed questionnaires did not allow for a detailed analysis of the undertaken
subject to be conducted. Moreover, the research results cannot be generalized to all logistics
companies in Poland.
Originality: The study was the first review of the application of indicators in logistics companies
in Poland in relation to the implementation of the management accounting concept. The study
provides knowledge about how Polish logistics enterprises use indicators as an important management
accounting instrument.

Purpose: The paper discusses the validity of the thesis according to which Polish budgetary framework
in place in 2011 required only minor adjustments in order to be consistent with the principles
set forth in the EU Council Directive on requirements for budgetary frameworks of Member States
adopted in November 2011. Basic elements of the budgetary framework laid down in the Directive
had already been provided for in Polish law.

Methodology: A comparative analysis of the provisions of the Directive with relevant acts of Polish
legislation, including the Public Finance Act, was carried out. The author outlines the Polish
budgetary framework before 2011 and the most important adjustments introduced by the end of
2013 on the basis of the budgetary framework structure set forth in the Directive.

Findings: The assessment of the convergence of provisions encompassed definitions, accounting,
statistics, forecasts, numerical fiscal rules, medium-term budgetary frameworks, transparency and
consistency. Its results demonstrate that Polish regulations complied with the provisions of the
Directive. In order to confirm their correctness, an assessment of the practical application of recent
adjustments, which entered into force in 2014, must be carried out.

Constraints to research: The analysis addresses the main concepts and their most important
characteristics, and therefore a synthetic approach to the subject required omitting a number of
specific issues.

Originality: The paper analyses the convergence of the Polish budgetary framework in 2011 and
its subsequent adjustments to the provisions of the Directive of the EU Council requiring Member
States to amend their legislation by the end of 2013.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to discuss the problems related to consumer time valuation and its implications. This domain remains relatively unexplored in marketing literature.

Methodology: The author approached the time valuation problem in a synthetic and interdisciplinary way. To facilitate the analysis of time characteristics as a consumer resource and temporal decisions, the comparison with money was applied, which is an approach well established in the literature.

Findings: Time can be a source of value only to selected consumers, as not all perceive time as scarce. Mental accounting for time is diffi cult; hence consumers tend to use heuristics to arrive at their temporal decisions and prefer immediate discounting of temporal benefits. Contrary to a popular adage, time is not money, at least in the context of the majority of consumers’ decisions.

Research limitations/implications: Despite growth in the number of publications, knowledge of temporal aspects in consumer behavior is limited and fragmented. Less is known about how to turn the perceived value of time into customer value. Further investigation is needed to identify consumer groups that truly value time.

Practical implications: The knowledge of temporal aspects of consumer behavior, and how consumers value time, would be of particular use in the service industry, where the “when” of customer value is usually provided in the form of “convenience”.

Originality: This study sheds light on research gaps in the literature in an under-investigated subject, examining the link between the perceived value of time and possibilities to generate value based on temporal benefits.

Purpose: Recently, magic has been given increasing attention by psychologists for what it can reveal about how the human cognitive system works. This paper examines whether these same cognitive processes are at play in another arena, specifi cally, the presentation of fi nancial accounting information.

Approach: The authors reviewed the fi ndings of cognitive scientists from their studies of magicians and applied these to the activities of professional accountants.

Findings: Specific cognitive processes which magicians and accountants take advantage of, explicitly for one and implicitly for the other, are the same: good continuation, habituation, and attentional capture.

Value: Further research regarding such interactions between accounting and cognition has potential for enhancing our understanding of both. Certainly at this particular point in accounting history, as standard setters seem to be moving ever closer to implementing some version of a principles-based accounting regime versus our current rules-based accounting regime, it is worthwhile to contemplate the conscious and subconscious effects of cognitive processes on how individuals perceive financial information.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to confirm the thesis that the amount of public funds expenditure has no impact on the effectiveness of state functioning, which – to a greater extent – is dependent on the efficiency of these funds. In the article, the author claims that in the case of the European Union there is no explicit evidence concerning the efficiency of public funds in Member States – both on the micro and macro level.

Methodology: A literature review conducted on the basis of collections of academic and scientific articles and an analysis of particular solutions implemented in the European Union and in OECD Member States as well as concerning the consolidation of public funds in the context of the effectiveness of state functioning.

Originality: The author of this work – on the basis of the (performed) analysis presented in the article, explains that the optimal fiscal policy should use appropriately selected tools allowing to achieve the best (optimal) method for the management of public funds, in particular the external and internal position of the economy of the given country. The key factors that decide on the effectiveness (excluding non-financial factors) are neither
universal (absolute) nor relative extent of public spending. The author concludes that the level of effectiveness is either dependent on the structure of this spending and procedures connected with public expenditure planning, executing, accounting and reporting processes, or the level (quality) of the effectiveness and efficiency evaluation system.