Our study investigates the relationship between firm profitability, board characteristics, and the quality of sustainability disclosures, while examining the moderating effects of financial leverage and external audit assurance. A key focus is the distinction between Big 4 and non-Big 4 audit firms. Using data from Malaysia’s top 100 publicly listed organizations from 2018 to 2020, we analyze sustainability reports based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. Unexpectedly, our results indicate a negative association between firm profitability and board characteristics, challenging traditional assumptions. We find that non-Big 4 audit firms significantly enhance sustainability disclosure quality, contradicting the widely held belief in the superiority of Big 4 firms. Our finding introduces the “Big 4 dilemma” in the Malaysian context and calls for a reassessment of audit firm selection practices. Our study offers new perspectives on the strategic role of board composition and audit firm selection in advancing sustainability disclosures, urging Malaysian organizations to evaluate audit firms on criteria beyond the global prestige of Big 4 firms to improve sustainability reporting.

The global economic recession has caused pessimism in terms of prospects of sales recovering in the future. The present study is an attempt to investigate the cost stickiness behavior by focusing on specific characteristics of companies. The research was done through documentary analysis and access to quantitative data, with the use of statistical methods for analysis as panel data. The statistical population of the actual study included all companies listed on the India stock exchange from 2017 to 2021. They were selected after screening 128 listed companies. The regression method was used to examine the relationship between variables and to present a forecast model. The results of testing the first hypothesis showed that companies’ costs are sticky and according to the results of this hypothesis, an increase in costs when the level of activity increases is greater than the level of reduction in costs when the volumes of the activities are decreased. The results of the second hypothesis showed a remarkable relationship between the cost stickiness and specific characteristics of companies (size, number of employees, long-term assets, financial leverage, and accuracy of profits forecast). Based on the third hypothesis, there is a notable difference between cost stickiness at different levels of specific characteristics of companies. Therefore, the results show that environmental uncertainty such as COVID-19, increases cost stickiness.