External Auditor Types and the Cost Stickiness: Empirical Evidence from Companies Listed in Tehran Stock Exchange

One of the growing issues in management accounting is discussions on cost behavior. Cost behavior deals with cost behavior changes according to the change in cost stimulus. Awareness of cost behavior according to the changes in the activity level or sales level is an important information for making management decisions in planning and budgeting, product pricing model, determining the breakeven point, and other decisions. This study attempted to examine the impact of audit firm with respect to the variables of major ownership and market level on costs stickiness. For this purpose, the data from 121 firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange during 2004 to 2014, panel data model, and estimated generalized least squares method were used. The results showed that (1) firms audited by big audit firms (Audit Organization) have less cost stickiness compared to firms audited by other audit firms; (2) major ownership, as one of the most important mechanisms of corporate governance, has not had a significant impact on cost stickiness and also relationship between audit firm size and cost stickiness. In other words, major ownership decrease does not increases the inverse relationship between audit firm and cost stickiness; and (3) reducing the market level does not increases the inverse relationship between audit firm and cost stickiness. This result showed that the increase in a firm’s market share in its particular industry, cannot serve as a mechanism of effective monitoring, and the firm’s market level will not be a type of monitoring tool.