PurposeThis paper aims to determine whether there is a relationship between intellectual capital and social capital and internal control weaknesses and assess the relationship between the variables of intellectual capital and social capital and internal control weaknesses. Design/methodology/approachThe statistical population consists of 1,309 firm-year observations from 2014 to 2020. The research hypothesis is tested using statistical methods, including multivariate, least-squares and fixed-effects regression. FindingsThe results demonstrate a negative and significant relationship between intellectual capital, social capital and internal control weaknesses. The study also finds that increased intellectual and social capital quality improves human resource utilization, control mechanism, creativity and firm performance. The results also show that intellectual capital and social capital enhancement will reduce internal control weaknesses in the upcoming years. Originality/valueThis paper is the pioneer study on the relationship between intellectual capital and social capital and internal control weaknesses in Iran, carried out separately and in exploratory factor analysis. This paper considers intellectual capital components for theoretical factor analysis, including human capital, structural capital and customer capital. Internal control weakness is assessed based on financial, non-financial and information technology (IT) weaknesses.

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the effects of intellectual capital (IC) efficiency and its components on audit fee stickiness (AFS), such as human capital (HC), organisational capital (OC), structural capital (SC) and relational capital (RC). Moreover, the moderating roles of audit industry specialisation (AIS), tenure and auditors' market concentration are also estimated. Design/methodology/approachThis study's method is descriptive-correlational based on the information disclosed by listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2012 to 2018 using 1,316 year-firm. The method used for hypothesis testing is linear regression using panel data. FindingsThe results show that all the intellectual capital components (ICCs), including HC, SC, OC and RC, negatively impact audit fees (AFS). Further analyses also show that the AIS moderates the relationship between ICCs and AFS. Originality/valueThis paper is one of the pioneer studies assessing the auditors' response to the riskless environments driven by existing IC.

The present study aims to evaluate the contributing factors to agency costs in Iran. In this regard, 112 companies were studied over 2010 - 2016. Since the model is dynamic and the dependent variable suffers from a lag, the generalized method of moments is employed to free the independent variables and the disruptive component. The findings indicate a significant lag in the dependent variable of all three models. An audit committee's presence significantly affects the decline of agency costs in all three models. Moreover, results suggest that family companies and the state shareholders of all three models have no significant impact on the agency costs. The existence of financial leverage matching with all three models causes the decline of agency costs. In terms of assets, Larger companies based on the three models have more agency costs as well.

In the absence of an income statement, earnings can be calculated as cash flow from operating activities (CFO) plus accruals, rather than being stated as the difference between income statement revenues and expenses. Following the study by Christodoulou and McLeay (Contemp Account Res 31:609:328. https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3846.12038 , 2014 ), this paper uses a system of structural regressions with a framework of two simultaneous linear models, allowing the most basic property of accounting—double entry bookkeeping—to be incorporated as a constraint. The paper aims to investigate whether the constrained seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) estimator with two simultaneous models, produces lower out-of-sample prediction errors than each standalone model. We also examine if CFO and accruals are more capable of predicting future earnings than income statement earnings and expenses. Our findings show that in predicting earnings: (1) a system of structural regressions with two constrained simultaneous models produces significantly smaller out-of-sample prediction errors than each separate regression; and (2) accruals and CFO produce smaller out-of-sample prediction errors than earnings and expenses.

This study investigates how mergers and acquisitions (M&A) affect the wealth of shareholders of public firms in the United States (U.S). More specifically, it investigates whether the nature of the bid, the payment method used, and the type of M&A have implications for shareholders of U.S bidding firms. The study analyses 352 mergers and acquisitions in the U.S during the period 1999-2008, and its results indicate that bidding firms suffer significant negative buy-and-hold abnormal returns in the three years period after a M&A announcement. The results also suggest that, in the long-run, hostile bids and cash-financed bidders outperform friendly bids and stock-funded bidders, respectively. Furthermore, the study also finds that in the long-run bidder firms that focus on industry specialisation within their M&A targets significantly outperform firms that adopt a more diversified strategy. The analysis also investigates the effects of M&A specialisation/diversification in six different sectors, and finds that specialised bidders outperform diversified bidders in four sectors: consumer & basic materials, energy & utilities, communications and technology. Furthermore, bidder firms in the financial services sector perform significantly better when diversifying into other sectors, while the performance of bidder firms in the industrial sector appears unaffected by the degree of M&A specialisation or diversification.

This study investigates the impact of takeover announcements on UK acquirer shareholders’ wealth during the period 2002-2006. More specifically, it is investigated whether the impact of single acquirers on shareholders’ wealth is significantly different from the impact of multiple acquirers. Findings suggest that acquirer shareholders experience positive abnormal returns during the announcement period. Moreover, the results indicate single acquirers consistently outperform multiple acquirers when testing for deal characteristics such as: payment method (cash or equity), target status (public or private), target location (domestic or cross-border) and industry relatedness (specification or diversification). Performance declines with sequential acquisitions due to merger programme announcement hypothesis. Successful first time acquirers suffer from hubris whilst unsuccessful first time acquirers learn from their experiences suggested by the organisation learning hypothesis but go on to suffer from hubris. Acquisitions of private firms yield significant abnormal returns whereas public acquisitions reduce the value of UK acquirers. The effect of cash and equity, domestic and foreign, related and unrelated takeovers are inconclusive for the short-term windows investigated by this study.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the incremental information content of estimates of cash flow components in predicting future cash flows. Design/methodology/approach - The authors examine whether the models incorporating components of operating cash flow from income statements and balance sheets using the direct method are associated with smaller prediction errors than the models incorporating core and non-core cash flow. Findings - Using data from US and UK firms and multiple regression analysis, the authors find that around 60 per cent of a current year's cash flow will persist into the next period's cash flows, and that income statement and balance sheet variables persist similarly. The explanatory power and predictive ability of disaggregated cash flow models are superior to that of an aggregated model, and further disaggregating previously applied core and non-core cash flows provides incremental information about income statement and balance sheet items that enhances prediction of future cash flows. Disaggregated models and their components produce lower out-of-sample prediction errors than an aggregated model. Research limitations/implications - This study improves our appreciation of the behaviour of cash flow components and confirms the need for detailed cash flow information in accordance with the articulation of financial statements. Practical implications - The findings are relevant to investors and analysts in predicting future cash flows and to regulators with respect to disclosure requirements and recommendations. Social implications - The findings are also relevant to financial statement users interested in better predicting a firm's future cash flows and thereby, its firm's value. Originality/value - This paper contributes to the existing literature by further disaggregating cash flow items into their underlying items from income statements and balance sheets.

Among the most important cases considered in financial statements by investors and other users of financial statements is earnings-related information. Given the need of the users of financial statements for the future information of companies and use of past data to predict the future, it seems that earnings forecast is among the favorite items of investors. In fact, earnings forecast by the management provides information about the future of companies. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of surplus free cash flow, corporate governance and firm size on earnings predictability in companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. This research is an applied study and of post-event causal type. For data analysis, OLS regression method has been applied using Eviews‏ software. The research results demonstrate that there is a statistically significant relationship between earnings predictability and surplus free cash flow and good corporate mechanisms play a positive role in the relationship between surplus free cash flow and earnings predictability. According to the results, in large companies, good corporate mechanisms enhance the relationship between surplus free cash flow and earnings predictability.

Several studies revealed earnings management (EM) around mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by both acquirers and target firms. Rosa et al. (2003) suggest that a systematic EM is associated with the use of stock as payment in takeovers. This and other corporate malpractices have prompted authorities to tighten regulations by passing the United Kingdom (UK) Corporate Governance (CG) Code to guide companies in the UK in their corporate management and financial reporting.This study is to investigate the impact of the UK CG Code on accruals EM around M&As in the UK. The study applied the Modified Jones (1991) model as modified by Dechow et al. (1995) and the Pearson Product Moment Correlation in analysing a sample data from 66 companies listed on the LSE that have undertaken M&As within the period of January 2007 to December 2014. The results produced by the modified Jones model indicate some level of income increasing discretionary accruals in the pre-CG period but showed an opposite situation in the post-CG period. A test for significance indicates the means of pre-CG discretionary accruals and post-CG discretionary accruals were different and significant. The hypothesis that “the level of earnings management around mergers and acquisitions in the UK has significantly reduced after the enactment of the UK Corporate Governance code 2010” was therefore accepted.Results from the Pearson Correlation Coefficient were inconclusive on EM but indicate some changes in the level of activities in the earnings between the two periods. This may also points to some effect of CG Code on the reported earnings of these companies. The results from this study is consistent with existing studies that evince the effectiveness of CG in controlling EM as Hsu and Koh (2005); Osma (2008) suggest that best corporate governance practices minimise EM and reduce fraud drastically.

The subject of the present research is the study of the relationship between earnings management (accrual-based and real) and auditor’s opinion. Alongside putting the control variables into consideration, this this paper studies the relationship between earnings management (accrual-based and real) and auditors’ opinion. The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of income smoothing and manipulation on the opinion of independent auditors. This research includes two independent variables i.e. earnings management (based on discretionary accruals) and real earnings management, one dependent variable i.e. auditor’s opinion, along with control variables. In the first main hypothesis the relation between real earnings management and auditor’s opinion is examined; and the second hypothesis involves the association between discretionary accrual-based earnings management and auditor’s opinion. In this research some 117 firms in the time period 2008-2013 are empirically investigated and studied using logistic regression method. In conclusion, the second and third hypotheses are rejected; however examination of the first and fourth hypotheses confirms their significant association with auditor’s opinion.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between ownership structure and economic performance criteria of companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange. This study is a descriptive- applied research that reviews the cross-sectional data relating to 114 listed companies between 1387-1393. Multivariate regression is used to analyze the effect of each of these factors on economic performance. The results show that from three applied independent variables in the regression model, there is a significant relationship in a 95% confidence level between Institutional ownership and property management and economic value added and modified economic value added but there is not any relationship between ownership concentration variable and economic performance criteria. The obtained determination coefficient for the above relationship shows that the independent variables explain only part of the economic performance, and investors need to consider other factors as well to evaluate the economic performance of the company.

Motivated by comments by the FASB, IASB and CFA Institute on the need for greater articulation in financial reporting, this paper explores a model design for explicitly articulated financial statement variables. The estimation of articulated earnings components described in this paper uses a system of structural regressions, where the framework of simultaneous linear equations allows for the most basic property of accounting – double entry – to be incorporated within the model as a constraint that recognizes the zero-sum articulation of financial statement variables.

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the influence of economic factors on accounting profit transparency. Economic factors consist of economic growth, liquidity growth rate, annual deposit interest rate, currency, and inflation rate. In this research in order to determine profit transparency Barth et al. (2008) model has been implemented. This model defines transparency as the simultaneous change of profit and profit changes along with stocks feedback. The data are quantitative and at relative scale which depend on regression analysis and interpretation and Pearson correlation factor. To this end, research hypotheses have been tested by implementing apposite statistic methods by the use of SPSS software. Macroeconomic variables values have been collected from the data published by the central bank. The research population consists of basic metals industry companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange during 2009-2014. The research findings show that there is a significant and positive relationship between macroeconomic variables under the present study and that of dependent variable of profit transparency.

The main objective of the investors to invest in stocks is to earn a profit and this is achieved by firm performance improvement. So the investors analyze various kinds of financial performance data for the different kinds of business models to determine whether some models perform better than others. The present study aims to collect the evidences of the relationship between firm economic performance and the level of related party transactions on Tehran Stock Exchange. So far, empirical evidences are not provided to reveal a clear picture of the reasons behind the related party transactions in Iran. In the case of opportunistic behavior in transactions, it is expected that the level of related party transactions has a relationship with economic performance variables. The research data have been collected over 1387-1393 for companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange and to test the hypotheses, multivariate regression analysis of panel data is used. The results indicate that at a 95% confidence level, the economic value added (EVA), refined economic value added (Reva) and the market value added (MVA) variables have a significant relationship with the level of related party transactions.

In 1394, a research was conducted to detect the influential factors on using analytical methods in external audit. Results of research hypothesis examination revealed that analytical procedures were used effectively during implementation steps of external audit and needed initial information including industry indices, budget, standard costing, firm size, accounting systems, effective internal controls, audit managers work history and his(her) coworkers, educational level of audit manager and his(her) coworkers, industry, familiarity with statistical-analytical procedures and institution size influence on using analytical procedures. However among factors mentioned above only firm size, accounting systems and effective internal controls are crucial factors which influence on using analytical procedures.

We test the impact of debt capacity on firms' simultaneous decisions of leverage and debt maturity in reducing underinvestment problems. Examining 24 OECD countries for the period between 1990 and 2011, we find strong evidence, that, unlike previous studies, the role of leverage and debt maturity in reducing underinvestment problems is not homogeneous across firms with varied debt capacity. We find new evidence that, when firms face lower debt capacity constraints, they benefit from their ability to use a greater amount of debt if they shorten their debt maturity, or gain from using longer maturity of debt if they decrease their leverage to reduce underinvestment problems. Our results suggest that they also benefit from the ability of their firms to gain from interest tax shields by financing more with debt or long-term debt, and hence use debt maturity and leverage as strategies substitutes. However, when firms are constrained by concerns over debt capacity, they tend to opt for a lower level of debt that is mainly short-term to reduce the underinvestment problem. Our results suggest that firms with lower debt capacity cannot completely resolve their underinvestment problems by using short-term debt or low leverage, implying that the effects of the liquidity risk outweigh those of underinvestment problems, and hence impose a constraint on firms' choice of debt.

One of the most fundamental economic problems is optimal allocation of resources towards high-yield investments with reasonable risk. For this achievement, it is required to have operational evaluation criteria that some of which emphasize on cash flow variables and some others on the information content of accounting interest. In order to achieve this end, in this study, the relationship between yields before interest and tax and operational cash flow with shareholders’ output in information asymmetry conditions during the life cycle of the listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange was investigated. To do testing hypotheses, multiple pooled data Regression was used. To separate the companies through life-cycle, Anthony and Ramesh’s (1992) research was used. The results of empirical tests results, by using information related to 142 firms during 2008 to 2013, indicate that in each of three stages of growth-maturity and the firms’ fading and interest before benefit and tax-have no positive and significant relationship with the output of the firms’ stock on the other hand, the interest before benefit and tax rather than operational cash flow have more information content.

A failure to beat earnings expectations often results in an immediate fall in a firm’s stock price, while exceeding market expectations is normally rewarded by investors in the form of an increased stock price. As a result, managers may have a vested interest in ‘managing’ the reported earnings growth when remuneration packages are linked to corporate profitability. Investors may be misled by this earnings management process if they are fail to consider the quality of earnings when assessing stock returns. Investors can determine earnings quality through the information disclosures provided by management, although such information may not be routinely provided by corporate management teams. In situations where the market focuses primarily on firms’ reported income and fails to consider the quality of accounting earnings, there may be temporary divergence of stock prices from their correct values. Where the market focuses on the reported income figure in a firm’s income statement it fails to consider information about earnings quality, such as the disclosures about working capital accruals. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) states that the usefulness of accounting information is the principal objective of financial statements (FASB, 1978). This paper investigates whether the usefulness of accounting information in the decision making process is enhanced by recognizing the impact that information about earnings quality may have on stock returns. More specifically, the paper focuses on the impact of accounting accruals as the main measurement and indicator of earnings quality.

Poor risk management within firms was the result of deregulation and the Big Bang of 1986. Without a regulator and in order to achieve financial growth, firms inadequately managed their risk. The 2007 financial crisis was a wake up call to the UK highlighting that companies could not carry on in this manner. The financial crisis resulted in the FSA assuming the role of an active regulator, thus many requirements were implemented including the Capital Adequacy Ratio. Consequently, gross mortgage lending decreased by 63% during 2007-2010. Therefore, this study investigates the perceptions of the current level of regulation on the UK mortgage market. The research found there is a strong perception that the level of regulation is hindering lending and competition within the market. More specifically this study uses a qualitative approach of in-depth interviews with five financial and regulatory professionals. The results suggest that two professionals perceived regulation as positive for the UK mortgage market. Regulation is perceived positively because of its ability to give consumers greater market confidence, the implementation of loss mitigation strategies that prevent house repossession and the loss of irresponsible lenders. Three professionals perceived regulation as highly negative because it has reduced the lending rate, created barriers to entry thus reducing competition, has moved careless lending to other areas of the market such as payday loans, has created a substantial cost burden, has used a one-size-fits-all approach and has not removed fraudulent activity completely. Overall these results suggest that UK economy may struggle to get out of this recessionary period as long as there are uniform capital requirements imposed on UK lenders. It is recommended that the regulator may take an approach that lessens the requirements enforced on non-bank lenders. However, the capital requirements should be imposed on banks that have wider implications for the UK economy and caused the current financial crisis in order to prevent future financial crises. Another recommendation is the segmentation of building societies from banks as seen in the 1970s. The separation would create market confidence and would result in greater local knowledge; this would stimulate growth within the UK mortgage market.

The formation of shareholders or a board of directors’ structure is considered one of the important issues of corporate governance that impact on the motivation of managers. We shall consider that the impact of a board of directors’ ownership structure on the performance and productivity of corporate governance is a multidimensional and complicated issue. For this reason, we can expect all kinds of conflicts and contradictions of interests among people and groups, including conflicts of interest among owners and managers, shareholders and creditors, real and legal shareholders, internal and external shareholders etc. In this regard, there is extensive research about the impact of a board of directors’ ownership and managers on the performance and the value of a company within different countries and researchers have achieved different results and conflicts. Regarding a lot of research in this field, this research by using a descriptive-analytical method has studied the impact of a board of directors’ structure and features on the performance of corporate governance within companies listed on the Tehran stock exchange. The results indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between CEO duality and a company’s performance, also there is no significant relationship between a board of directors’ adherence and a company’s performance.