Purpose – The study aims to determine whether audited organizations experience differences between external audits and official controls.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey among 100 organic food producers was conducted to explore differences regarding the usability of external audits and official controls. The survey was conducted in 2020 using the computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) method supplemented by the computer-assisted web interview (CAWI) method. Organizations processing organic farming products in Poland were chosen for the study.
Findings – Three primary benefits associated with external audits and official controls were identified, i.e.(1) enabling and initiating activities related to the improvement of the organization, (2) improving the financial performance of the organization and (3) enhancing credibility. For most organizations, the assessment of these features was at the same level for both external audits and official control. However, if these assessments differed, commercial audits were assessed at a higher level than official controls.
Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to only one specific type of manufacturing organization and one European country.
Originality/value – The literature review shows some conceptual differences between audits and official controls, but the results of this study show that the business environment does not perceive these differences as significant. Thus, the value of the study is reflected in the conclusion that both external audits and official controls are considered useful and credible approaches to monitoring the quality within the organization, which allows us to state that external evaluation is generally seen as an opportunity to improve the performance of the organization.

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to present the results of empirical research concerning the identification of the impact of the transfer of companies from the alternative market to the regulated market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange on their operating and net performance.
Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted based on the empirical data of the companies that changed the listing place on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Data regarding the years before the transfer were collected from the prospectuses of companies prepared mandatorily in connection with the transition to the regulated market. Data regarding the years of the event and subsequent years were obtained from companies’ annual reports. As in other studies in the analysis, the operational metrics were used (operatingreturn on sale, operating return on assets, total asset turnover), which was further extended to net profitability ratios (net return on ale, net return on asset, net return on equity). The significance analysis was based on the Student’s t-test and Wilcoxon’s test.
Findings – The results show that before the transfer from the alternative market to the regulated market, companies improved financial performance. As a result of the change of listing venues, the results already collapsed in the year of the event. The downward trend continued in the following two years, with a noticeable improvement in the third year after the transfer.
Originality/value – The literature lacks such studies based on the Polish market. To the best knowledge of the author, this is one of the first studies in Poland showing the changes in operating and net performance of companies changing the stock listing venues. The research is based on a large group including all companies that have changed listing venues since the beginning of the alternative market in Poland. The article presents an original empirical result that can be used both by managers and investors in their decisions.

Purpose: One of the regulatory responses to the 2008 financial crisis was to internalize the costs related to banks’ distress by introducing bank levies. More than 23 European banking sectors have been confronted with the new levy regime imposing the additional tax on banks’ balance sheet.

Methodology: This study analyzes the effect of the levy introduction on banks’ profitability, credit activity, and on their business models. More importantly, we confront two different levy regimes – one imposed on banks’ assets and the other on liabilities – to assess their differential impact. A generalized least squares regression with a random effect is performed on a data sample of Hungarian and German credit institutions from 2005 to 2015.

Results: The results show that levy introduction weakened banking sectors in terms of their profitability as well as their lending activity. Even though banks try to compensate for the cost of the levies by passing some of the costs on to the customers and restructuring their operations to limit the tax burden, we find that these activities are not sufficient to offset the whole tax burden. We also note that while the asset levy has a more severe effect on banks’ profits, the liability levy severely affects banks’ lending due to lower interest margin resulting from higher cost of funding.

Findings: Our research results provide important conclusions for regulators, especially during turbulent periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen the banking sectors by considering the levy suspension.

Purpose: The article evaluates the associative relationship between international supervisory board experts and foreign ownership, along with the experts’ influence on the financial and operating performance of firms. The study was based on data collected for 257 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2010–2015.

Methodology: The dataset was built as a panel, and then generalized least squares regression models with a fixed or random effect were employed to test hypotheses.

Findings: The findings of the study clearly show that the presence of investigated firms in foreign markets positively affects company performance. Moreover, models with dependent variables ROA and ROS show that supervisory board members with foreign experience positively affect profitability indicators of firms that do not operate on foreign markets. The data analyses reveal that international experts are more effective advisors for companies that conduct no business activities on foreign markets. Furthermore, the results show a positive moderate association between the share of international experts in supervisory boards and the share of foreign ownership in the company.

Originality: The article contributes to the understanding of determinants and consequences of the presence of international experts in supervisory boards and company internationalization.

Purpose: This study identifies and analyzes the factors that impact the financial performance of companies after a merger and acquisition transaction.
Methodology: As many as 130 Polish market observations were analyzed with an OLS regression model to verify the research hypotheses.
Results: The results reveal that the company’s size, performance before the transaction, and its international nature translated into improvement of post-transaction financial performance. Moreover, industry diversification transactions and CEO changes in acquiring a company had a negative impact on the company’s financial performance after the transaction.
Originality: This investigation is the first study devoted to the Polish market in the research field of M&A determinants with the use of such a large sample.

Purpose: This paper investigates the relationship between the internal governance structure and fnancial performance of Polish companies. Ensuring diversity of corporate boards has been on the agenda of various regulators on a national and international level as it is generally expected corporate boards that are more diverse will be more competent and more effective monitoring managerial actions, and therefore positively impact company performance.

Methodology: This paper uses a sample of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and examines the two main compositional features of company supervisory boards (independence and experience) and their practices by companies. We also investigate the effect of diversity on company performance. As our empirical methodology, we use linear regression analysis.

Findings: Our fndings support the proposal that diversity matters, especially in terms of the presence of experienced members on supervisory boards, and that such diversity positively affects fnancial results. In addition to the main fnding, the results of the study indicate also the importance of the ownership structure. Family frms and companies with a higher level of gearing are more likely to perform less effectively.

Originality: To date, research on the association between supervisory board diversity and fnancial performance in either the Polish or Central and Eastern European capital markets has been limited. The paper also points to the importance of having experienced members on a company’s supervisory board. Independent members on supervisory boards do not seem to have a similar association.

Purpose: The article addressed the problem of relationships between university funding and efficiency on the one hand and the quality of teaching and research on the other.

Methodology: The measurement of teaching and research quality in Polish universities was derived from two sources: 1) evaluation scores of teaching quality given to universities by the Polish Accreditation Committee, and 2) the research category grades given to university departments or units by the Polish Committee for Evaluation of Scientific Units. Subsequently, the quality measurements were correlated with financial indicators and efficiency scores obtained from data envelopment analysis.

Findings: The correlation and regression results indicated that public universities that have received higher scores of teaching quality simultaneously have higher average scientific categories. There was also a substantial relationship between the revenue per student and the revenue per teacher and variables describing quality but the regression analysis exhibited opposite directions regarding the type of quality indicator.

Research limitations/implications: The quality of teaching and research at universities was assessed despite the limited availability of internal information gathered from higher education institutions (HEIs).

Practical implications: The authorities of a university can simultaneously track the improvement of quality or financial efficiency without losing their interdependence when reforms of HEI operations are conducted.

Originality: The study proposed new measurements of quality derived from external evaluation bodies and investigated the relations of these measures with selected financial and efficiency indicators.

Purpose: The goal of the paper is to analyse the determinants of the level of ROE (return on equity) for two groups of banks, interrelated by capital links, and their banking sectors.

Methodology: For the case study, we chose companies that, in 2011–2013, were designated by the Financial Stability Board as global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) and their subsidiaries operating in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) as well as their banking sectors. We sought to identify differences in the performance drivers, taking into account bank-specific and country- (or sector-) specific factors.

Findings: We found no significant differences in the level of ROE among the analysed groups; however, we identified a different set of determinants and their impact on ROE.

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 aim of this article is to analyse the theoretical views and results of empirical research
concerning the relation between organisational learning (OL) and organisational performance (OP).

Methodology: The study was carried out through extensive literature research, including relevant
literature review from databases such as ProQuest, Elsevier, Emerald and EBSCO (the phrases:
“organisational learning”, “learning organisation” and “organisational performance” were searched
in the keywords, titles or abstracts).

Findings: From a theoretical point of view, the relation between OL and OP is neither obvious nor
clear, but the analysis of the empirical studies allows one to assume that OL has an essential impact
on OP. However, differences in the strength of the relation were shown and some contradictions
related to the presence of the relation between OL and selected (mostly financial) performance
aspects identified. Furthermore, the article discusses the significant differences and inconsistencies
in the methods of measuring OL, measuring OP, selecting contextual factors and adopted
methods of data analysis.
Implications: Inconsistencies and gaps found in the studies of the relationship between OL and
OP made it possible to designate the direction for promising further research.

Value: The article presents valuable insight through its in-depth, critical analysis of the organisational
learning and organisational outcomes. First and foremost, this indicates that the formula of
the previous empirical studies does not allow for the development of precise solutions pertaining
to organisational learning management for the benefit of OP improvement.

Purpose: The article investigates whether performance of government-owned banks
is influenced by electoral considerations.

Methodology: To verify the political interference hypothesis, net interest margins
recorded by banks during different stages of the electoral cycle are studied. Univariate
tests are applied and random effects regression models are estimated.

Findings: It is established that government-owned banks exhibit statistically and
economically significantly lower net interest margins and interest incomes during
pre-electoral periods in Central European countries. The results support the view
that government-owned banks do realize political goals.

Research limitations: The role of only one political factor, i.e. electoral cycle is analyzed.
A comprehensive research project should encompass the effect of such factors
as political competition, non-electoral political events, electoral expectations,
government political complexion, and institutional development on governmentowned
banks’ behaviors. It should also assess the political determinants of lending
volume.

Originality: The article uses a new dataset including financial information since
1992, i.e. since the early transformation years.