Islamic Accounting and ESG Integration for Sustainable Development: A Value-Driven Framework for Ethical Reporting and Sustainability Performance in Shariah- Compliant Firms

While sustainability reporting has become a hallmark of corporate accountability in global capital markets, traditional Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks continue to be largely secular, and they frequently fail to consider the ethical and spiritual aspects that are a part of faith-based accounting frameworks. This study proposes and empirically examines a value-driven conceptual framework that facilitates the relationship between Islamic accounting practices and the quality of ESG disclosure for Shariah-compliant firms and then the link between ESG disclosure quality and sustainable development performance, in which the role of Shariah governance is modeled as a boundary condition moderator. Based on Stakeholder Theory, Maqasid al-Shariah, and Legitimacy Theory, the study proposes that Islamic accounting practices (compliance with AAOIFI standards, disclosure based on Sharia, transparency in the application of Zakat, and ethical reporting) are antecedents of high-quality ESG disclosure (environmental, social, and governance) sub-dimensions, and that high-quality ESG disclosure partially mediates the link between Islamic accounting practices and the sustainable development performance (economic sustainability, social impact, environmental efficiency, and alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)). The model was estimated using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in Software SmartPLS 4 with survey data gathered from finance, accounting, and Shariah-compliance officers in the Shariah-compliant listed firms, supplemented by archival disclosures in listed firms. Robustness checks were conducted in a panel subsample using System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) technique. The results show that Islamic accounting practices have a significant positive effect on ESG disclosure quality, ESG disclosure quality appears to have a positive effect on sustainable development performance, Islamic accounting practices have both direct and indirect effect on sustainable development performance through the mediation of ESG disclosure quality and Shariah governance significantly enhances the relationship between Islamic accounting practices and ESG disclosure quality. The findings contribute to the literature of ESG by introducing Maqasid al-Shariah as a substantial theoretical framework in sustainability research and are of practical use to standard setters, Islamic financial institutions, Shariah supervisory board, policy makers and socially responsible investors as a replicable, hybrid measurement framework. Regulatory implications for harmonising AAOIFI standards and global ESG taxonomies are addressed, as well as limitations and recommendations for further research.

Keywords: Islamic Accounting, ESG Disclosure Quality, Shariah Governance, Maqasid al-Shariah, Sustainable Development Performance, Stakeholder theory, Legitimacy theory, PLS-SEM.