Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting / Revista Espanola de Financiacion y Contabilidad

The Value of ESG

Ever-increasing scrutiny of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices is running parallel to the rapid evolution of ESG regulation, which is primarily focused on encouraging standardized ESG reporting frameworks, transparency, and information disclosure that goes beyond mandatory requirements. Some illustrative examples include recent major regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR) in the context of the European Union. As a result of this institutional context and the growing awareness among corporate stakeholders of such ESG practices, the implementation of ESG strategies in companies has become a prominent field of research in accounting, finance, and management.

Given the exponential growth of ESG engagement among firms and the consequent increasing interest in elucidating its effects on investor behaviour and firm value, the Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting (SJFA) is seeking to offer a special space for authors to contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon by bringing  together diverse perspectives and up-to-date empirical evidence. Theoretical and empirical high quality research papers in all areas of ESG will be considered. Moreover, given the interdisciplinary nature of ESG research, the special issue is open to a variety of theoretical approaches, not only from the fields of finance and accounting, but also from other closely related areas such as management or corporate governance. Especially welcome are papers analysing issues related to the value relevance of ESG, drivers of investor interest in ESG, the effect of ESG on firm risk and return dynamics, disclosure of ESG information, measuring and implementing ESG strategies, as well as their valuation  within companies from a broad perspective, including critical ones. We are also interested in comprehensive reviews and critical discussions of the research literature within our area of interest as well as papers that explore novel research methods or original data and metrics.

About the Journal

The Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting (SJFA) is an international journal founded in 1972.

It is a scientific journal promoted by the Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas (AECA), whose main objective is to bring together the Spanish community of accounting and business scholars, researchers, and professional practitioners. AECA aims to provide a platform for the wide dissemination of research and professional expertise, as well as to foster and improve research and practice in the fields of accounting and finance.

SJFA is included in the Social Sciences Citation Index and has had an impact factor in the Journal of Citation Reports (JCR) since 2010. It has a 2024-impact factor of 1.2 and is ranked in the 3rd quartile of journals in the Business, Finance category, and is included in the Academic Journal Guide (AJG). It is also listed in SCOPUS/Scimago. The SJFA aims to publish high-quality research papers in accounting and finance, and it has a sound reputation as a dedicated academic journal publishing high-quality research on all aspects of finance and accounting. It also draws on an international editorial board that has prestigious researchers worldwide. Accepted papers are typically published online 7-8 days after acceptance.