Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system utilization and Environmental, Governance, Social (ESG) practice incorporation have jointly wielded significant influence on various aspects of accounting operations. On the other side, leveraging the robust information infrastructure, Taiwanese firms have widely implemented ERP systems and have been aligning with international ESG initiatives in recent years. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of ERP utilization and ESG practices on real and accrual earnings management among firms listed in Taiwan over an 19-year span from 2003 to 2021. The results of this study suggest duration of ERP implementation has a negative impact on accruals earnings management, but has a positively influence on real management. The results underscore the significant influence of ERP utilization duration on the different aspects of corporate earnings management activity. Additionally, our investigation illustrates a negative association between the corporate assimilation of ESG practices and both real and accrual earnings management. This reveals that enterprises committed to implementing ESG practices highlight long-term substantive operations over the short term periodic performance of financial statements.

Using a qualitative research methodology and exploratory approach to collect data, this study assessed the effects of dependency syndrome within Africa’s international relations and its repercussions for achieving sustainable development. The collected data were analysed using document and content analysis techniques. The study revealed that dependency syndrome within Africa’s international relations has led to aid dependency, political violence, and poverty. It has promoted laziness and an inferiority complex that affects the working conditions of Africans. Further, it has promoted corruption and affected the rule of law for good governance; yet, sustainable development cannot occur without it. Moreover, dependency syndrome has inhibited innovation and led to the destruction of the local industries that are key to achieving sustainable development. The results of the study found that dependency syndrome has prevented the development of a robust transport network system that could promote African trade relations, which would lead to sustainable development. The results also posited that chronic poverty and underdevelopment in Africa are perpetuated by the dependency syndrome within Africa’s international relations. The study recommended that Africa needs to overcome dependency syndrome and reform her international relations with external world. This would require establishing a continental sovereignty that enables the continent to have one common foreign policy within its planning diplomacy endeavours.

The increase in world carbon emissions is always in line with national economic growth programs, which create negative environmental externalities. To understand the effectiveness of related factors in mitigating CO₂ emissions, this study investigates the intricate relationship among macro-pillars such as economic growth, foreign investment, trade and finance, energy, and renewable energy with CO₂ emissions of the high gross domestic product economies in East Asia Pacific, such as China, Japan, Korea, Australia and Indonesia (EAP-5). Through the application of the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), this research reveals the long-term equilibrium and short-term dynamics between CO₂ emissions and selected factors from 1991 to 2020. The long-term cointegration vector test results show that economic growth and foreign investment contribute to carbon reduction. Meanwhile, the short-term Granger causality test shows that economic growth has a two-way causality towards carbon emissions, while energy consumption and renewable energy consumption have a one-way causality towards carbon emissions. In contrast, the variables trade, foreign direct investment, and domestic credit to the private sector do not have two-way causality towards CO₂ emissions. The findings reveal that economic growth and foreign investment play significant roles in carbon reduction, which are observed in long-term causality relationships, while energy consumption and renewable energy are notable factors. Thus, the study offers implications for mitigating environmental concerns on national economic growth agendas by scrutinizing and examining the efficacy of related factors.

Hazards are the primary cause of occupational accidents, as well as occupational safety and health issues. Therefore, identifying potential hazards is critical to reducing the consequences of accidents. Risk assessment is a widely employed hazard analysis method that mitigates and monitors potential hazards in our everyday lives and occupational environments. Risk assessment and hazard analysis are observing, collecting data, and generating a written report. During this process, safety engineers manually and periodically control, identify, and assess potential hazards and risks. Utilizing a mobile application as a tool might significantly decrease the time and paperwork involved in this process. This paper explains the sequential processes involved in developing a mobile application designed for hazard analysis for safety engineers. This study comprehensively discusses creating and integrating mobile application features for hazard analysis, adhering to the Unified Modeling Language (UML) approach. The mobile application was developed by implementing a 10-step approach. Safety engineers from the region were interviewed to extract the knowledge and opinions of experts regarding the application’s effectiveness, requirements, and features. These interview results are used during the requirement gathering phase of the mobile application design and development. Data collection was facilitated by utilizing voice notes, photos, and videos, enabling users to engage in a more convenient alternative to manual note-taking with this mobile application. The mobile application will automatically generate a report once the safety engineer completes the risk assessment.

While infrastructure provides necessary public services and is vital for the socio-economic development of a nation, public funds alone cannot finance all infrastructure needs in society, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, where many countries are facing budget deficits. Although private financing schemes, such as public-private partnerships (PPPs) and land value capture, have been considered intensively, they have yet to produce adequate private capital flows to infrastructure projects due to a lack of incentives for private investors. Against the background, this paper proposes a new financing mechanism in which governments might divert some of the increased tax revenue from the spillover effects of newly constructed infrastructures to fund the private sector through grants or subsidies. The empirical work in Vietnam shows a significant increase in tax revenues after completing two expressways, supporting our idea about spillover effects, which includes small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development. This study’s results suggest that spillover effects can bring new opportunities for governments and multilateral development banks (MDBs) to implement infrastructure projects with greater private sector involvement in the region. It also proposes some financial schemes, such as land capture and financing for business startups, including SMEs, to enhance the spillover effects of infrastructure.

This paper aims to investigate local communities’ participation in eco-tourism projects by using the community of Situ Cisanti located in Tarumajaya Village, West Java as a case. Data were gathered through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation analysis. Observations and in-depth interviews were conducted simultaneously for two months, from September to October 2021. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 informants from the elements; village government officials of Tarumajaya, Perhutani, and local communities who participated in the Situ Cisanti eco-tourism project, which was completed through a documents analysis. According to the findings, local community participation in Situ Cisanti eco-tourism consists of conservation and economic participation. Conservation participation is demonstrated by their participation in restoration and greening activities such as reforestation, etc. in Situ Cisanti and its surroundings, whereas economic participation is demonstrated by the establishment of stalls, culinary, coffee, souvenir, and homestay businesses as a result of Situ Cisanti eco-tourism. Furthermore, the existence of this eco-tourism has empowered women because new business opportunities that arise are not only run by men but also by women. As a result, this study implies that the participation of local eco-tourism communities not only has an impact on empowering conservation knowledge and economics, but it can also imply women empowerment.