Aud = 1 if a firm’s sustainability report is assured by a big-4 firm and otherwise 0;
Gotr = corporate governance transparency at country level developed by bushman et al. (2004);
Enf = quality of national legal environment composed of a law enforcement index and an investor protection index provided by la porta et al. (1998);
Lit = liability standard index developed by la porta et al. (2006) incorporating the ease with which investors can sue auditors;
Ncri = national corporate responsibility index computed by accountability (2005);
Size = firm’s size measured by the natural log of a firm’s sales;
Prof = firm’s profitability measured by the natural log of a firm’s return on assets;
Ind = 1 if a firm is a member in environment sensitive industry and otherwise 0. Industry affiliation to a sensitive industry is determined using a slightly modified version of patten (1991). It included industries in the petroleum, chemical, forestry and paper products.