فصلنامه دانش حسابداری مالی
سال هشتم شماره 4 (پیاپی 31، زمستان 1400)

One of the possible reasons for the weakness of the internal control system of banks can be considered as the lack of a pattern for the establishment of this system. The purpose of this study is to identify the effective indicators in establishing the internal control system of banks and to introduce the effective indicators according to the contextual characteristics of Iranian banks.

In order to achieve the objectives of the research, first, by reviewing the literature, effective indicators in establishing the system of internal controls in banks were identified. In the next stage, semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts in order to consider other factors affecting the research subject according to their experiences and unique context of the Iranian banks. Then, using a questionnaire and fuzzy delphi method, these factors were screened by experts’ opinions. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis test was used to determine the factor loading of the indicators.

The research findings indicate that out of 119 indicators identified as effective indicators in establishing the internal control system of Iranian banks, 113 indicators has obtained the general consensus of the delphi group and by conducting factor analysis, it was determined that all these 113 indicators were of sufficient importance.

Banks will be able to assess the current status of the internal control system by the indicators introduced in this study and ensure the effective functioning of the internal control system.

 Findings of this study can help to identify the indicators affecting the establishment of the internal control system of Iranian banks according to the contextual characteristics of the country and identify the necessary steps to improve the effectiveness of the internal control system in banks.

Due to the increasing importance of the issue of ranking in the banking industry and the lack of a ranking system in accordance with the conditions of the country in this study, according to the ranking systems of reputable institutions in the world and its localization with Conditions of the country provided the indigenous ranking system and evaluated it with financial health indicators and early warning system.

For this purpose; After identifying the criteria used in evaluating the ranking of reputable institutions using the opinion of banking and academic experts, 35 criteria for ranking were extracted and using data from 15 banks listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, during the period 2015-2019 to TOPSIS method, banks were ranked and evaluated using financial health and early warning system indicators.

From the experts' point of view, quantitative indicators including financial dimensions (liquidity, profitability, capital and asset risk), qualitative dimensions (complexity and behavior of banks) and environmental dimensions (economic variables, government support and industry characteristics) are effective in the local bank ranking model.

The results of this study showed a positive and significant relationship between the proposed ranking model and financial health indicators and early warning system.

 This evidence suggests attention to the proposed indicators for the evaluation and ranking of banks, which can be used by rating agencies and bank officials.

Maintaining non-optimal amounts of cash has negative financial consequences for a firm. Therefore, managers target an optimal ratio for cash and strive to achieve that target. However, the speed of adjustment towards the target depends on the position of the actual cash ratio (higher or lower than the target) and the firm’s exposure to the financial deficit and surplus. The purpose of this study is to provide evidence for the asymmetry of adjustment speed.

In this research, using 3764 firm-years data from firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange during 2002-2019 in the form of an unbalanced panel data and using the dynamic panel data method with the system generalized method of moment (System-GMM), the research hypotheses have been tested.

Findings show that compared with other firms, firms that hold cash above the target level or are in financial deficit, have a higher speed of adjustment. The supplementary results using difference generalized method of moment (Difference GMM), and a different definition to determine the financial deficit and surplus are consistent with the main

The results confirm that the cost of holding cash more than the target (in deficit firms) is more than the cost of maintaining cash less than the target (in surplus firms) and this causes firms that hold cash more than the target (in a state of financial deficit) to have a faster adjustment speed. The research findings which indicate a kind of asymmetry in cash adjustment speed reveal the interaction of Trade-off and Pecking order theories in explaining the above asymmetry.

By providing empirical evidence, this study has tried to reveal the interaction between the Trade-off and Pecking order theories in explaining the above asymmetry. The research findings contribute to the literature and theories on cash holding.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the existence of herd behavior of firms in each industry as well as industry relative to other industries in determining the capital structure.

Herd behavior is shown with a nonlinear relationship between the capital structure of firms and the industry capital structure and the method of absolute cross-sectional dispersion was used. Also, the herd behavior of other industries towards the capital structure of each industry was examined. The research period is from 2002 to 2020 and twelve industries have been studied.

The results showed that in the automobiles and parts industry, basic metals, food except sugar, chemical, electrical appliances and non-metallic minerals of firms compared to the median of the industry, there is herd behavior in the capital structure of firms. In addition, this behavior towards the automobiles and parts industry (5 industries), rubber and plastics (4 industries), food except sugar (3 industries), pharmaceutical, non-metallic minerals and tile-ceramics (2 industries), machinery and equipment, electrical appliances and metal ore mining (1 industry) were observed.

The result of research indicates that herd behavior can be considered as a determining factor in the structure of capital.

 Providing evidence on herd behavior and imitation and peer effect on the capital structure at the level of industry firms and also at the level of industries relative to each other as well as the development of behavioral finance literature in the corporate finance area in Iran, is the main contribution of this study.

Considering the role of taxation in the administration of each country, this study was conducted to study the effects of labor investment inefficiency on corporate tax avoidance activities.

The research methodology is a quantitative and ex-post. For doing statistical analysis, the linear regression analysis was used by using the panel data method. Data related to 124 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the period 2009-2020.

The research results showed that inefficiency of investment in labor has positive effects on tax avoidance and can play an important role in corporate tax decisions. Also, there is a positive (negative) relationship between overinvesting (underinvesting) in labor and tax avoidance. In addition, the evidence showed that when companies have limitation in funding, there is no difference in the intensity of this positive relationship.

Increase in ambiguity, weaker control environment and reduction in expected cash flows due to inefficiency of investment in the workforce provide opportunities and context for the company's management to increase tax avoidance, thus, those involved in the field of taxation should pay special attention to this issue.

 Rendering evidence about the effects of labor inefficiency investment on tax avoidance considering the role of constraints in financing can be introduced as knowledge Enrichment in this study.

workplace bullying, which is closely related to the ethical climate, has always been disruptive and a threat to audit firms. Therefore, the present paper aimed to investigate trainee auditors’ perception of the relationship between the audit firm's ethical climate and workplace bullying.

Data collection tools included The Ethical Climate Questionnaire (Cullen, Victor, and Brason, 1993) and The Workplace Bullying Questionnaire (Arian Gholipour et al, 2009). The questionnaires were distributed among 358 trainee auditors. All the trainee auditors have been working in audit firms for 0 to 4 months. The data were analyzed statistically using SPSS software. The research hypotheses were tested through the structural equation method.

According to the results aspects of ethical climate, such as profit-mindedness, social responsibility, firm’s rules and procedures, and professional rules and principles, can affect significantly bullying behaviors in the workplace. Moreover, our results showed that sex, age, education, audit firm size, and ethnicity do not affect bullying in the audit firms.

Our findings are applicable to both practical and social problems. These findings provide guidelines for audit firms to establish a healthy ethical climate. This, in turn, can result in recruiting, training, and retaining young and skilled professionals in the field of auditing. Also, the findings of the present paper can be applied socially to obviate bullying in the workplace and, consequently, to help in improving auditing both as a profession and as a business.

 The results of the present study, in addition to covering the gap of existing research in this field, provide guidance for audit firms in creating an appropriate ethical environment to reduce bullying of supervisors and thus maintain and promote new audiences in auditing.

The agency theory argument assumes that companies whose employees perform better face fewer agency issues and retain less cash. Conversely, the stakeholder theory argument assumes that companies with better employees retain more cash with better performance, because managers need more cash to motivate and meet employee needs. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between employee performance and the amount of corporate cash holdings, according to the agency and stakeholders theories.

This research is a quantitative research from the perspective of implementation process (data type), an applied research from the perspective of its implementation, an analytical research from the perspective of correlational research, a deductive-inductive research from the perspective of implementation logic and a temporal dimension , Is a longitudinal (post-event) research. To test the research hypothesis, the financial information of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange between 2012 and 2018 has been used, so that after applying the restrictions in this study, the final sample consisting of 168 companies was selected. After measuring the research variables, multivariate linear regression analysis and statistical techniques of panel data and control of fixed effects at the industry and year level were used to test the research hypotheses. The hypothesis was also tested using Eviews econometric software and statistical techniques of integrated data.

The research findings indicate that according to the stakeholder theory, there is a positive relationship between employee performance and the corporate cash holdings. Also, the results of the supplementary analysis using the 2SLS approach indicate that this result is consistent with the main findings of the research.

According to stakeholder theory, companies need to maintain more cash to meet the demands of better performing employees.

This research can help to expand the existing limited theoretical foundations in the field of employee performance and add a new perspective to the literature on employee characteristics and management relationships with employees, and this expansion can provide services to make labor laws and regulations more applicable.