Iranian Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Winter 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between capital structure and firm’s financial performance by using five years data from 2011 to 2016 of Taiwan exchange listed companies. The data has been analyzed by using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis to find out the association between the variables and t-statistics to test the hypothesis. The findings at overall market as well as sector levels were unspectacular but remarkably consistent. Capital structure and various financial parameters exhibit correlation coefficients that were mixed in signs with relatively weak correlation strength. Further the results suggest that t-test statistics registered statistical insignificance for the three research objectives.

This study examines the impact of audit firm size on financial reporting quality of listed insurance companies in Nigeria. Data were collected from the annual reports and accounts of thirteen sampled insurance companies out of thirty-three listed insurance companies on Nigerian Stock Exchange for the period of eight years (2008 to 2015). Empirical analyses were carried out using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple regressions (Ordinary Least Square). The study found that audit firm size has a positive and significant impact on financial reporting quality. The study recommends that non-big4 accounting firm should invest more resources in technology and staff training, especially in specialized businesses (Insurance), so as to enable them to compete with other accounting firms in auditing.

One of the main problems and shortcomings of traditional accounting systems is that the value of intellectual capital in financial statements and reports of business units is not reflected appropriately. Putting emphasis on human resources and intellectual capital will lead to a better understanding of current and future underlying values of individuals, firms, institutions, and communities for better utilization of these funds. The main aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and intellectual capital in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The research population includes all companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange. Data are collected over a 6-year period from 2009 to 2014. The purposeful sampling method is used to select the sample and after considering some limitations, a total number of 120 companies is selected from all various industries as the sample of the study. The results show that among all corporate governance variables which are selected to be tested in this research, only institutional ownership has a significant relationship with the intellectual capital of companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange.

This research is intended to investigate the relationship between financial structure, growth opportunities and the tangible asset rate to be used by managers, capitalists, and others who use financial statements to make decisions. The subjects of the study include 195 companies for the years 2011 to 2015.This research is descriptive and functional. A multivariate regression analysis is conducted based on the method of combined data to test the hypotheses. The results show that there is a meaningful level for growth opportunity variable in 2011, but there is no relationship between growth opportunities and financial Structure during 2012- 2015. In addition, the results show that in 2011 there is a meaningful level for tangible asset variable, which means there is a meaningful relationship between tangible asset and financial Structure, but there is no relationship between tangible asset and financial structure.

The current research aims to analyze the relationship between return of stockholders’ equities, independence of the board of directors and environmental sensitivity of industry group and the social responsibility of enterprises based on integrated factors of sustainable development. The social responsibility includes the obligations for which the enterprise is responsible to contribute to the community where it acts. The integrated factors of sustainable development review the cases of backgrounds for disclosure, the framework of disclosure, report of the board of directors, concentration of stockholders, goals of sustainable development, and achievement of these objectives. The study period is related to years (2012- 2016) and the selected sample is composed of 82 companies. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression method was adapted to test the research hypotheses. The research findings indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between return of equity of stockholders, independence of the board of directors, and environmental sensitivity of industry group and social responsibility of enterprises based on the integrated factors of sustainable development after controlling ratio of book value to market value for equity of stockholders and systematic risk (market risk). This means that by rising in the rate of return on equity of stockholders and independence of the board of directors, the level of social responsibility increases, as well. Similarly, social responsibility was more observed environmentally in the sensitive enterprises. Hence, it is suggested to enterprises to address specifically return of stockholders’ equity and independence of the board of directors to increase the level of social responsibility as an important topic. Likewise, it is suggested to the sensitive enterprises to try to improve the social responsibility

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and stock price crash risk of companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The empirical data include 75 companies listed on the TSE, over a ten-year period from 2007 to 2016. Content analysis is used for measuring the CSR. In addition, a negative skewness was used to measure stock price crash risk. The statistical analysis of multiple linear regression was used to test the research hypotheses. The results of the researchers’ analysis indicated that there is a significant and negative relationship between CSR and stock price crash risk. The present study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence about the role of CSR in stock price crash risk from an Islamic and developing country.

The increasing need for improved quality of financial reporting is becoming a key challenge for stakeholders in the Nigerian corporate setting because of the consistent failure being witness by many organization. The presence of loan loss provision in the banking sector has paved way for managers to manipulate accounting earnings which has compel the need for this research in order to examine factors that could help mitigate or curtail managers’ tendencies to engage in earnings manipulation. Therefore, the study examine the effect of board diversity and audit committee on earnings management of listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria.

Board diversity variables include women director, board ownership, foreign director, board size and board composition, while a composite index of audit committee size, composition and meeting was used to moderate two (women director and board ownership) of the board diversity variables. Earnings Management was represented by Chang, Shen and Fang (2008) model. The population consists of fifteen (15) banks and all were used for the analysis. Secondary data were collected from the annual reports and accounts of the banks for the period 2008-2015. Multiple regression technique was adopted and Stata 13 was used as the tool of data analysis.

The findings revealed that, all the variables before moderation have significant effect on earnings management of banks except for board size. Meanwhile, after moderation, the findings revealed that explanatory variables explained the extent of earnings management better than before moderation. However, among all the explanatory variable used during the moderation, it was only three variables (foreign director, board composition and audit committee) that have significant effect on earnings management.

Practical Implications:

 Based on the above findings, the study recommended amongst others that the percentage of women director, shares held by directors and number foreign director should be increased, while the number of non-executive directors and audit committee should also be improved upon in order to mitigate the tendencies for earnings management in banks. Originality: The use of audit committee as moderating variable and the test of applicability and the usefulness of Chang, Shen and Fang (2008) model in Nigerian Banking Sector.