LEVERAGING FORENSIC ACCOUNTING AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE PRACTICES TO ADVANCE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN GLOBAL EMERGING-MARKET FIRMS

Global corporate systems face increasing ethical, environmental, and transparency challenges that demand more accountable governance models. This study examined how forensic accountability mechanisms strengthen ethical governance and stakeholder trust across multinational enterprises using multi-country datasets from 20 economies between 2018 and 2024. Structural Equation Modeling tested interrelations among governance quality, ethical leadership, and corporate transparency moderated by forensic oversight. The findings revealed that corporate accountability improved by 28 percent when forensic audit mechanisms were integrated into governance systems. The results also showed that ethical leadership and disclosure transparency significantly enhanced stakeholder trust and institutional legitimacy across regions. This research contributes to theory by extending Stakeholder Theory through the addition of forensic accountability as a core dimension of ethical governance, thereby broadening its explanatory scope and offering a refined framework for understanding corporate integrity in diverse global contexts. The study recommends institutionalizing forensic governance practices in policy and management frameworks to foster transparency and resilience in international corporations. The findings inform global policy debates on ethical capitalism and sustainable governance, promoting integrity-driven value creation.