Navigating complexity and tensions? Accounting, accountability and governance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

This guest editorial summarises the outcome of a special issue which sought to further our understanding of accounting, accountability and governance practices in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA]) region, given the apparent commonalities (e.g. religion, language, accounting practices and culture) as well as the differences (e.g. history, colonial influence, political and legal systems, level of economic development, GDP and transparency) in its institutional background. The eight accepted articles are contributions from authors based in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, Morocco and Iraq. These distributions suggest an increasingly international yet regionally grounded engagement with emerging economies scholarship, particularly on issues such as audit quality, IFRS adoption, sustainability reporting practices, board characteristics and the evolving challenges faced by regulatory and governance institutions across MENA. In addition, the articles demonstrate promising methodological variety and substantive depth, ranging from quantitative-archival studies to qualitative investigations. Collectively, they offer fresh insights into audit practices, corporate reporting and sustainability reporting, reflecting the complex nature of how these operate in the MENA context and the tensions they generate. We would also highlight the commendable levels of engagement from both authors and reviewers, with the articles proceeding though several rounds of review, ensuring that they can collectively offer deeper insights into practices across the MENA region and the scope they offer from the perspective of theory development. The contributions are methodologically rich, providing both empirical validation of theoretical concepts and interpretive exploration of local institutional complexities.