مجله پیشرفت های حسابداری
سال چهاردهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 82، بهار و تابستان 1401)

Accounting and financial reporting misconducts are deleterious and challenging from various individual and organizational dimensions. To confront them, whistleblowing financial misconducts can be an effective solution in this field. Whistleblowing of misconducts can be considered as an example of honesty, integrity, transparency, ethical, legal, and professional accountability against the types of hidden and visible misconducts to support organizational and public interests. In this regard, the aim of the research is to identify the explanation of social exchange the perspective of willingness to whistleblowing of financial misconducts in the shadow of dark personality traits. In this research, the statistical population from various groups of independent auditors, internal auditors and other persons who participate in monitoring, controling and inspecting the 249 people randomly on 2021. The analysis of the investigated variables in structural equation modeling shows that dark personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism psychopathy, sadism and spitefulness) and social exchange have a significant positive effect on the whistleblowing misconducts. Another finding of the research indicates that dark traits have no effect on social exchange. As a result, social exchange does not play a mediating role between dark traits and whistleblowing of misconducts.

IntroductionEnvironmental auditing has become a tool for maintaining and achieving environmental pollution control standards, and the lack of a pattern for environmental financial auditing to oversee the supreme audit court of Iran of state-owned companies is one of the challenges of not doing Environmental Financial Auditing. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide an environmental financial auditing pattern to monitor Iranian state-owned companies.  Research Questions or hypothesis This research lacks a hypothesis and will answer the following research questions: a) What are the appropriate indicators for Environmental financial auditing to monitor state-owned companies? b) What is the importance of these indicators? c) What is the appropriate pattern for Environmental financial auditing to monitor state-owned companies?  MethodsIn this study, first the initial indicators were identified based on the study of research literature and statistical method of qualitative content analysis. Then, in the fall of 1400,  35 auditors of the supreme audit court of Iran were interviewed as experts who were selected by the snowball judgment method, and the initial indicators identified by the Delphi statistical method were finalized. Next, using 50 finalized questionnaires and a new analytical methodology, Interpretive Structural Modelling and the relationships between the indicators were determined by MATLAB and Excel software, and the ISM graph was plotted in an integrated manner. Finally, using MICMAC analysis, the penetration power and dependence of the identified indicators were evaluated and the final pattern was drawn. Validity was calculated as content and reliability was calculated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient.  ResultsThe environmental financial auditing pattern for supervising Iranian state-owned companies has the indicators of environmental accounting standards, environmental standards and guidelines published by INTOSAI and ASOSAI, environmental audit guidelines and standards of the supreme audit court of Iran and accepted accounting principles.  Discussion and ConclusionInterpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) and MICMAC analysis were used to analyze the relationships between the indicators and provide a suitable pattern. In the method of Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) statistical method, the results showed that the indicators of environmental accounting standards and accepted accounting principles are at level (2) and are effective indicators in the pattern. Indicators of environmental standards and guidelines published by INTOSAI and ASOSAI and guidelines and environmental auditing standards of the supreme audit court of Iran are at level (1) and have the least impact on the pattern. In MICMAC analysis, the results showed that the indicators of environmental accounting standards and accepted accounting principles with high influence and low dependence were identified as independent indicators. Also, the indicators of environmental standards and guidelines published by INTOSAI and ASOSAI and the guidelines and environmental auditing standards of the supreme audit court of Iran were identified as dependent indicators with low penetration power and high dependence. Keywords: Environmental financial audit, Monitoring, Iranian state-owned companies, Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM)

IntroductionThe speed of adjustment of financial leverage indicates the movement of companies towards the optimal capital structure and clearly shows the financing policies of companies. The importance of optimal leverage is such that the growth and survival of companies depends on this factor and affects the risk and expected returns of companies. One of the ways to reach the optimal leverage level is to reduce the risks faced by the company and consequently increase the company's efficiency. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of risk management on the speed of adjustment of financial leverage in the life cycle stages of companies.  HypothesesCompany-specific risks and market risks affect companies' achievement of optimal financial leverage, so by managing internal and external risks, the company can achieve optimal leverage sooner. In general, when a company moves from one stage to the next in the stages of the life cycle, the target financial leverage in the next stage is an important factor in determining the current capital structure, and companies should adopt their strategies according to the stages of the life cycle. Based on the stated contents, the research hypotheses are presented as follows:H1: Risk management has a positive and significant effect on the speed of adjustment of financial leverage.H2: Risk management during the growth period of companies has a positive and significant effect on the speed of adjustment of financial leverage.H3: Risk management in the maturity period of companies has a positive and significant effect on the speed of adjustment of financial leverage.H4: Risk management during the decline period of companies has a positive and significant effect on the speed of adjustment of financial leverage.  MethodThe current research is applied and from the methodological point of view, correlation is causal type (post-event). The statistical population under investigation in this research is all the companies admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange and the period under investigation is from 2011 to 2020. In this research, the systematic elimination method was used to reach the sample, and 128 companies were selected as the research sample. Data analysis has been done by using the combined data method and with the data panel approach and by using Eviews 12 software to test the hypotheses.  ResultsThe results of the research showed that risk management has a direct effect on the speed of adjustment of financial leverage. Also, risk management in the growth period of companies has a direct effect on the speed of adjustment of financial leverage with an increasing factor; But in the maturity period, risk management has no effect on the speed of adjustment of financial leverage. Also, risk management in the period of decline of companies with a decreasing and negative coefficient has an inverse effect on the speed of adjustment of financial leverage.  Discussion and ConclusionThe financial leverage of the company is affected by the market risks and specific risks of the company, and by fully managing and identifying these risks and using specialized risk management teams and committees, these risks can be minimized so that the company can quickly move towards the optimal leverage and its goal. Risk management during the growth period of companies has the most positive effect on the speed of lever adjustment towards optimal leverage. Among the theories that are related to financial leverage is the theory of the life cycle of companies, and the theme of this theory is that companies always keep resources with different combinations in the stages of the life cycle, and by looking at the methods of financing, they try to parallelize risk, return and goal. They are maximizing the value of the company. In the maturity stage, because the company has a stable situation and with a relative reduction in new investments, the need to finance them has decreased, as a result, they have achieved relative stability in the speed of financial leverage adjustment. Companies in the decline stage have lost their growth value, liquidity indicators are at a minimum and profitability is in a downward trend. At this stage, companies increase the company's risks with large external financing due to the lack of necessary financial resources, and due to the lack of resources to repay debts, the company may face the risk of bankruptcy, and this will slow down the speed of lever adjustment.

IntroductionCompanies generally use unrealized gains on holding assets to increase their profits when necessary. On the other hand, the company may sell loss-making assets with the aim of transferring future losses to current periods and using a loss accumulation strategy, which seems to worsen the company's situation for the current fiscal year. But the main goal is to reduce the losses of future periods (Campa, Cao, & Donnelly, 2019).Accounting standards as well as International Financial Reporting Standards for property, plant and equipment, as well as impairment of assets, stating that assets should be measured at either cost or fair value, provide an opportunity for judgment and prudence (Ball, 2016). It can be stated that the use of the above standards in measuring fair value leads to precautionary measures to increase profits and losses in each reporting period. In other words, managers must decide whether to change the profitability process in the current period or to continue the conservative process of maintaining assets at cost (Rashidi, 2020). In Iran, according to the Communication of the Tehran Securities and Exchange in 2016 and the difference between the real value and cost of assets as a result of inflation and more encouragement of managers to use fair value for fixed assets, companies are required to provide conditions for evaluation. Accordingly, examining the use of asset sales as a way to manage real profits is of particular importance. In this way, the risk of adverse selection for shareholders can be reduced and the conditions for evaluating the actual performance of the manager are provided.  HypothesisCompany managers may be willing to sell assets when financing investment projects and when outsourcing is costly. In this paper, the goal is to review fixed asset disposal as a method of real earnings management. Thus research hypotheses have developed as follows:H1: If the sale of a company's assets leads to a forecast profit, companies will sell the assets for profit.H2: If the sale of company assets does not lead to the expected profit, companies will sell assets to increase losses.H3: The relationship between the transfer of assets for non-operating profit and the failure to meet the profit margin is stronger for companies that have large accruals on their balance sheets.H4: The relationship between the transfer of assets for non-operating losses and the failure to meet profit margins is stronger for companies with large accruals on their balance sheets.  MethodsThe purpose of this study is descriptive and is based on the nature and method of correlation. As this research can be used in the decision making process of investors, the type of applied research is considered. In this research, library method has been used to collect data and information. Then, for collecting the research data, compact discs, visual and statistical archives of the Tehran Stock Exchange, the official website of Tehran Stock Exchange and other related online databases have been used.For this purpose, data on 120 companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange for the period of 2006 to 2019 were extracted and a logistic regression model was used to test the research hypotheses.  ResultsThe results show that the first and second hypotheses of the research are not confirmed but the third and fourth hypotheses are confirmed. The results of the first research hypotheses show that if the sale of firm’ assets will lead to predicted profit, companies are not approved for sale of assets in order to gain profits. Also, the second hypothesis, based on whether or not the sale of company assets achieves the expected profit, companies sell assets to increase losses has not been confirmed, but the relationship between the asset disposal to earn non-operational profits and failure to meet the profit criteria for the companies with extensive accrual on their balance sheet are confirmed. Finally, the fourth hypothesis, the relationship between the asset disposal to earn nonoperational loss and failure to meet the profit criteria for the companies with extensive accrual in their balance sheet are confirmed.  Discussion and ConclusionIn this study, the disposal of fixed assets as a way to manage real profits has been investigated. The first hypothesis of the research is that if the sale of the company's assets leads to a forecast profit, the companies will not sell the assets for profit. The results of this hypothesis are similar to the results of Herrmann et al. (2003). In this regard, it can be said that the goal of earnings management is to realize the management forecast of profits this year and next year. Sales managers schedule their fixed assets and investments in order to achieve the desired profit. Since the carrying amount of revalued assets is typically less than their market value (sales), the manager can manipulate the current period profit by selling the asset and identifying the gain from the increase in the asset in the period in question. Incremental profit management and decreasing profit management (Xu, Taylor, & Dugan, 2007). The second hypothesis of the study is that if the sale of company assets does not lead to the expected profit, companies will not sell assets to increase losses. The results of this hypothesis are similar to the results of Ebrahimi and Zakeri (2009). Managers do not want to lose their position in the capital market. Therefore, they focus their efforts on gaining profit (even if it is less than expected profit) and are reluctant to transfer unforeseen losses to the current period. The results of the third hypothesis are consistent with the research of Poitras et al. (2002). Investors and other users of financial information attach great importance to reported earnings. Accounting profit has information content and users use it based on their information needs. Accounting profit can be used to evaluate the performance of the business unit, management stewardship, cash forecasting, etc. Managers can change the level of accounting profit by choosing from accounting principles or standards in applying estimates and scheduling transactions such as the sale of assets. According to the results of the fourth hypothesis, the relationship between the disposal of assets for non-operating losses and the failure to meet the profit margin is confirmed for companies that have large accruals in their balance sheets. The results of this hypothesis are similar to the research of Sanjaya and Saragih (2012). Real profit management occurs during the current period and increases the loss for the company at the end of the period, and  to avoid losses, managers will manage the profit through optional accruals. When the company's actual profit is less than the managers’ expected profit, the managers try to bring the reported profit to the expected level by selling more assets, or vice versa, when the company's real profit is higher than the managers' expected profit, they try to bring the reported profit to the expected level by selling the assets that lead to the loss.

IntroductionFinancial statements are among the most important sources of information for investors and other decision-makers. Hence, the evaluation of factors affecting financial reporting quality has gained great attention from researchers. Psychological and economic theories suggest that people have learning constraints, such that resources devoted toward one task reduce the resources available for other tasks (Kahneman, 1973; Peng, 2005; Peng and Xiong, 2006). Various studies provide empirical evidence that even professional market participants are subject to capacity constraints arising from limited time and attention (Chakrabarty and Moulton, 2012; Corwin and Coughenour, 2008; Harford et al., 2019; Schmidt, 2019). When shareholders spread their portfolio wealth among more firms, the weight of firms in the portfolio decrease, the benefit from gathering private information about a particular firm decreases, and shareholders considering resource constraints would have a great motivation to, instead of gathering private information acquisition through close interactions with management, use public disclosure as a cost-effective alternative information channel to reduce uncertainty about portfolio firms (Peng, 2005). Hence, shareholders would probably demand greater public information and there would be more pressure on the managers to increase the amount and quality of public financial disclosure. On the other hand, considering the intra-industry information transfer phenomenon, intra-industry connectedness can have a great impact on public information disclosure demand and manager behavior regarding financial information reporting (Sajjadi and Pourheydari, 2018). Hence there is a great probability that intra-industry connectedness moderates the relationship between large shareholder portfolio diversification and financial reporting quality. This study aims to evaluate the relation between large shareholder portfolio diversification, earnings quality, disclosure quality, and intra-industry connectedness.  HypothesisBased on the abovementioned theoretical foundations and evidence from previous works showing the effects of large shareholder portfolio diversification and intra-industry connectedness on managers' behavior and information demand satisfaction, the research hypotheses were formulated as follows:H1: large shareholder portfolio diversification effects earnings quality.H2: large shareholder portfolio diversification effects financial reporting quality.H3: Intra-industry connectedness moderates the relationship between large shareholder portfolio diversification and earnings quality.H4: Intra-industry connectedness moderates the relationship between large shareholder portfolio diversification and financial reporting quality.  MethodA sample including 153 firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) over the 2014 to 2021 period was used for hypothesis testing. An index was made based on Herfindahl–Hirschman index and was used as an indicator of large shareholder portfolio diversification. The absolute value of the covariance of change in sales across all firms in the same industry for each industry was calculated as the Intra-industry connectedness measurement. This covariance factor is calculated based on the decomposition of the aggregate volatility of sales, presented and used in prior studies (e.g., Comin and Philippon, 2005; Kim and Kwon, 2016; Pollack, 2013; Chiu, 2014). The measure of earnings quality is based on the Dechow and Dichev (2002) model. Following Francis et al. (2005) and Chiu (2014), the standard deviation of the firm’s residuals over the prior three years is used as a measure of earnings quality. Disclosure quality is measured based on scoring which has been published by the Tehran Security Exchange each year.  ResultsResults show a positive association between large shareholder portfolio diversification, financial reporting quality, and earnings quality. The relationship between large shareholder portfolio diversification and financial reporting quality is negatively moderated by intra-industry connectedness, but there is no significant moderating effect of intra-industry connectedness in the relationship between large shareholder portfolio diversification and earnings quality.  ConclusionBased on the results it can be said that large shareholder portfolio diversification and intra-industry connectedness have a significant impact on earnings and financial reporting quality and should be considered by investments and other decision-makers in risk assessment. Further research should be conducted to evaluate the impact of large shareholder portfolio diversification on other aspects of financial reporting.

IntroductionThe primary purpose of accounting is to provide the information that is needed for sound economic decision making. Accounting information includes information contained in financial statements that the manner and extent of the quality of the content and its presentation, influences the decision of investors. Thus, by observing information and valuing stocks in the market based on this information, investors can predict the return on purchases of companies' stocks and make their decisions accordingly. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of accounting information quality on the abnormal return and the nonlinear effect of institutional shareholders and the linear effect of trading volume on this the relationship.  Research hypothesisBased on the theoretical foundations and research background and to achieve the objectives of the research, research hypotheses are formulated as follows:Hypothesis 1: There is a positive and significant relationship between the quality of accounting information and cumulative abnormal returns.Hypothesis 2: Institutional shareholders have an asymmetric (U-shaped) effect on the relationship between the quality of accounting information and cumulative abnormal returns.Hypothesis 3: Trading volume strengthens the relationship between the quality of accounting information and the cumulative abnormal returns.  MethodsThis research is applied in terms of purpose-based classification and is descriptive-correlational in nature and method. To test the research hypotheses, regression estimation method was used to examine the linear relationships and panel smooth transfer method (PSTR) was used to examine the nonlinear relationship. The statistical population of this study is the companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange and to achieve the purpose of the research, by filtering, the data of 160 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange and in the period 2012-2020 were analyzed.  ResultsFindings showed that there is a significant relationship between the quality of accounting information and cumulative abnormal returns. Institutional shareholders, however, asymmetrically moderate the relationship between the quality of accounting information and the cumulative abnormal returns. This means that institutional shareholders up to 41% ownership level have a positive effect on the relationship between accounting quality and cumulative abnormal returns and institutional ownership levels of more than 41% have a negative and significant effect on the relationship between accounting quality and cumulative abnormal returns. Also, trading volume modulates the relationship between the quality of accounting information and the cumulative abnormal returns.  Discussion and ConclusionCompanies with better accounting information are more aware of their stock prices, and this transparency leads to the formation of investor demand, and they predict the stock returns of these companies. The results showed that companies that provide better accounting information, will have more reliable stock return and the least deviation. Also, at institutional ownership levels of more than 41%, institutional shareholders negatively adjust the impact of accounting information quality on the cumulative abnormal returns. Finally, it was found that trading volume weakened the positive effect of the quality of accounting information on the cumulative abnormal returns. The reason for this is probably the increase in the number of buyers and sellers and, ultimately, fluctuations in stock prices.

. IntroductionBased on the theory of dynamic parallelism, companies always seek to bring their actual leverage ratio closer to the optimal ratio. But it should be noted that moving towards the optimal ratio of leverage has costs and benefits, and companies adjust their capital structure when the benefits of this work are greater than its costs. In fact, firms adjust capital structure when the benefits of the action are greater than the associated costs, taking into account the costs of deviation from the target leverage and the costs of adjustment towards the target. Factors affecting the speed of adjusting the leverage ratio (such as surplus and deficit of cash funds, quality of institutional factors of companies, company size, company growth, competition in the product market, the effect of commercial credit, the quality of disclosure and the quality of accruals, the entropy effect of financial statements, asymmetry Earnings management information, inflation rate risk and company-specific risk, financial condition and industry characteristics, dividend policies and financing strategies) have been measured. Some researchers believe that the components of disclosure quality (including the timeliness and reliability of financial reports) are one of the factors affecting the adjustment speed, which have not been paid attention to in previous researches. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effect of reliability and timeliness of financial reports on the speed of adjustment of financial leverage.  Research Questions or hypothesis:According to the contents stated in the theoretical foundations and background, the assumptions of the research are as follows:Hypothesis 1: the reliability of financial reports increases the speed of adjusting the leverage ratioHypothesis 2: Timely presentation of financial reports increases the speed of leverage ratio adjustment  MethodsThis research is retrospective in terms of applied results, quantitative in terms of execution process, and retrospective in terms of time. The data collection was done by library method from Central Bank website, Rahvard Navin database and Kodal website. Dynamic combined data approach with generalized moments estimator has been used to estimate the research models. In addition, to check the reliability of the results, from the Sargan test and the Arellano-Bond serial autocorrelation test; Used. The final analysis of the data has also been done with the help of Eviuse software. The statistical population of the research includes all the companies present in the Tehran Stock Exchange during the period of 1384-1396, after applying the following restrictions, 167 companies (2056 years of company) from the total number of companies accepted in the Tehran Stock Exchange remained available for the study. became  ResultIn this research, it is stated that companies always seek to bring their actual leverage ratio closer to the optimal ratio. The results show that with the increase in the timeliness of financial reports, the speed of adjusting the leverage ratio also increases significantly. However, the results indicate that the increase in reliability does not have a significant effect on the speed of adjustment of the leverage ratio. In fact, increasing the timeliness of providing financial reports leads to a decrease in the cost of financing and an increase in the speed of adjustment of the leverage ratio. But the reduction of information asymmetry does not lead to a reduction in the cost of financing and an increase in the speed of leverage adjustment  Discussion and ConclusionDiscussion and In the equilibrium theory, it is believed that companies have an optimal leverage ratio (target) in which the leverage ratio, the cost of capital reaches its minimum value. In this research, it is stated that companies are always looking for it rather than the actual leverage ratio. Bring yourself closer to the optimal ratio. In addition, it is believed that the speed of movement of the actual leverage ratio of the companies towards the target leverage ratio (the speed of adjustment of the leverage ratio) depends on various factors. One of the factors that reduce the speed of adjusting the leverage ratio is the information asymmetry between investors' business units. In this situation, increasing the quality of financial reporting disclosure will reduce information asymmetry and increase the speed of capital structure adjustment. In this research, the effect of reliability And at the same time, financial information on the speed of adjustment of leverage ratios has been examined.

IntroductionPerceptions of the quality of public sector accounting information vary among stakeholders, and previous research in the field of public sector accounting has identified only the indicators of the financial reporting supply chain from the perspective of individuals within the accounting profession. They offer limited insights and ignore many of the factors that can affect the quality of public sector accounting information; Therefore, to identify and comprehensively describe the various factors affecting the quality of public sector accounting information in Iran and its promotion strategies, the use of financial reporting chain supply areas, because it includes all stakeholders, the possibility of comprehensive study to identify components affecting the quality of accounting information provides the public sector that is the product of the financial reporting cycle.  Research QuestionsIn this research, an attempt has been made to measure the operational stages of the implementation of the accrual accounting system by using the monitoring and evaluation chain model and to evaluate the success of the said system from the perspective of all stakeholders of the financial reporting cycle; Therefore, the main question of the present study is, What is the quality level of information in the public sector after the implementation of standards and the establishment of accrual accounting based on the financial reporting cycle?  Methods The present research has been done using a mixed research method in two parts: qualitative and quantitative. The statistical population of the research in the qualitative sector, faculty members of universities and executive directors and employees of the public sector and in the quantitative sector are 146 stakeholders in the areas of financial reporting supply chain. Data analysis in the foundation data theory method was performed in three stages of open, axial and selective coding and, based on that, a qualitative research model was designed.  ResultsThe results of the present study show the extraction of 92 concepts, along with statistics of 25 categories and 13 cultural factors, increasing organizational productivity, accountability, legal factors, training of specialized manpower, political factors, environmental conditions, economic factors, stakeholders, accounting information, organizational and management factors. Then, according to the importance of the subject, the identified indicators are placed in the form of two questionnaires and the importance and performance of each factor is determined using the significance-performance analysis technique. The results of significance-performance matrix analysis showed that all variables were analyzed in the first area of ​​the significance-performance matrix and no factor was placed in the areas of performance retention, low priority and elimination as much as possible. This means that respondents have little satisfaction with these features and do not consider their performance desirable; But these factors are important to them.  Discussion and ConclusionIn this research, first, by identifying and extracting the components affecting the quality level of information in the public sector and providing a model in this field, an effective step is taken to identify the factors affecting the quality of public sector accounting information. Findings of the research using data-based theory method showed cultural factors, increasing organizational productivity, accountability, legal factors, training of specialized manpower, political factors, environmental conditions, economic factors, stakeholders, accounting information, organizational factors, and management as factors The main influences on the quality of public sector accounting information include 26 components and 92 indicators. In the following, according to the importance of the issue, the importance and performance of each factor have been determined using the Significance-Performance Analysis (IPA) technique. The results of the importance of factors using the significance-performance analysis (IPA) technique showed that all variables are analytically located in the first area of ​​the significance-performance matrix and no factors are in the areas of performance retention, low priority and elimination as much as possible. This means that all variables scored low in terms of performance (respondents' satisfaction), but these variables were important to them. Such a situation indicates that examining the quality of public sector information in terms of these variables requires immediate corrective action and in this regard are a high priority. In other words, the analysis of the importance-performance of factors affecting the quality of public sector accounting information showed that in terms of importance and performance of factors affecting the quality of public sector accounting information are in the focus area. This means that respondents have little satisfaction with these characteristics and do not consider their performance desirable; But these factors are important to them. Placing all factors in the focus area indicates that such factors require immediate corrective action, and  therefore are a high priority. Managers and planners, to increase the quality of public sector accounting information, as well as increase the use and achieve positive consequences, should make more efforts to improve the situation of these factors and change the current situation to achieve the desired situation, because the findings indicate that the situation of such factors is not favorable and requires vital attention. Also, the results of ordering and prioritizing the variables showed that the variables of lack of technical facilities, economic management, lack of strict rules, providing transparent financial reporting and eliminating the weaknesses of the accounting and financial reporting system have the highest weights, and the variables of stakeholder views have the lowest weights. This result indicates the high importance of the variable of lack of technical facilities in the quality of financial reporting in the public sector. In other words, the factor of lack of technical facilities has the highest and the variable of conflict of views of stakeholders has the least importance among the factors affecting the quality of financial reporting in the public sector.

IntroductionThere are contradictory results in some areas of tax avoidance literature that raise the question that if the measure of tax avoidance represents truly the concept and what components they are included. The most of measures of tax avoidance use pretax financial accounting income as a benchmark so earnings management methods might affect them. This can bias research results and researchers should pay attention to the effect. They need to separate the effect because it represents different underlying actions of managers.  HypothesisThe purpose of this study is to present a theoretical framework and relevant empirical tests to examine the fact that measures of tax avoidance reflect what types of tax avoidance and when they identify tax avoidance related to or unrelated to earnings management. In this research, four types of tax avoidance will be used to provide a theoretical framework that how measures of tax avoidance reflect these four types of tax avoidance. Any type of tax avoidance represents different underlying actions of managers and might be considered differently by policymakers and researchers.  MethodsComparative statics analysis will be used to determine the role of earnings management on measures of tax avoidance. in empirical tests, the annual data of 153 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the period 2012 to 2020 were analyzed. our tests examine the extent to which measures of tax avoidance are affected by earnings management and will be relied on previous research.In the first test, Givoly et al. (2010) will be followed to examine the distributional properties of earnings around the zero earnings growth threshold for firm-year observations that are defined to have above median levels of tax avoidance for each given measure.the second test is based on the sign and magnitude of unexpected accruals for those observations that fall above the earnings threshold. This test follows the intuition of Givoly et al. (2010) that firms that are managing earnings to meet thresholds will be more likely to have positive unexpected accruals without which they would not have met the threshold.   ResultsMost studies use pretax financial accounting income as a benchmark when they are going to measure tax avoidance. That is the reason for the effect of earnings management on measures of tax avoidance. A firm might be considered to have tax avoidance if the firm manages earnings upward without paying additional tax on the managed earnings. The results demonstrate that COF ETR that has been used in prior research - the ratio of cash taxes paid to pretax operating cash flows - captures less likely tax avoidance that is unrelated to earnings management. The results imply that pretax income aggregates over a longer period such as five years do not mitigate the relation with earnings management. The results indicate that the distributions of Cash ETRs and CFO ETRs are significantly different from each other for the one-, three-, and five-year ETR measures.  Discussion and ConclusionThe differentiation of tax avoidance related to or unrelated to earnings management is important because each effect suggests different underlying actions by managers and might be viewed differently by researchers and policymakers. In this study, the recognition of the numerator and denominator effect is a practical concept. For example, when a researcher can find tax avoidance by using Cash ETR and can not find tax avoidance using CFO ETR, it does not mean there is no tax avoidance. this can imply the company avoids tax with increasing income that reflects the denominator effect. If the researcher can find tax avoidance using CFO ETR too, it means the company avoids tax with decreasing tax payments that reflect the numerator effect. Using CFO ETR in empirical studies can help interpret inconsistent results in some studies of literature and avoid attributing earnings management results to tax avoidance. according to this, when CFO ETR is unable to capture tax avoidance, not necessarily imply there is no tax avoidance but it contains the data about the type of tax avoidance. We suggest to future researchers separate types of tax avoidance in their models in vague areas of literature. This can avoid attributing earnings management results to tax avoidance.

IntroductionThe emergence of audit firms’ mergers in Iran and the positive perception of Iranian regulators about the mergers, unlike other countries (Torkani et al., 2022), motivate us to examine the consequences of the mergers. In addition, disclosing audited financial statements in a timely manner to maintain the information’s usefulness (Almosa and Alabbas, 2008) is an important issue as well. Therefore, the present study examines the effect of Iranian audit firms’ mergers on audit report lag (ARL).  Research question or hypothesisBased on the extant theories about audit firms’ mergers and by taking to account the Iranian audit market attributes (Greenwood et al.,1993) as well as the emergence of symbolic audit firms` mergers in Iran (Torkani et al.2022), two scenarios are developed based on “symbol over substance” view and two contradictory theories are employed in accordance with the scenarios. The first theory is economics of scale, which is consistent with the substantive merger scenario (desired by the regulators). According to this theory, audit firms achieve synergy through merging (Kim and Singal, 1993) and consequently reduce ARL (Lai, 2019). The second theory is commercialism, which is consistent with the symbolic merger scenario. According to this theory, audit firms only seek to increase their market share and do not pay attention to improving their performance (e.g., efficiency); as a result, there is no decrease in ARL (Gendron and Spira, 2010; Ciconte et al., 2019). Thus, with regards to the competing scenarios and theories, we predict that audit firms’ mergers are associated with ARL.  MethodsData on audit firms’ mergers, ARL and the characteristics of client firms were collected manually from the annual reports of firms listed on the TSE between 2011 and 2020 (946 firm-years observations). Electronic copies of annual reports are available on the website of CODAL[1]. Then, using the in-sample Propensity Score Matching (PSM) approach, we have matched the observations of merged and non-merged firms and reached the final sample for model estimation. In the model of this research, based on previous research and the prevailing attributes of the Iranian auditing market, the variables affecting ARL were controlled. Finally, the research hypothesis is tested based on the nature of the merger process using the Difference-in-Difference (DID) method, which considers the merger method incidentally and as an external shock to the client firms.  ResultsThe results of the descriptive statistics in accordance with previous studies indicates long delay in issuing audit reports in Iran, which has not changed significantly after audit firms merging period. The results of the model estimation using the main sample and different sub-samples indicate that audit firms’ mergers do not affect ARL. This result is robust for several sensitivity tests.  Discussion and conclusionThis study shows that mergers between Iranian local audit firms (where international audit firms are not allowed to operate), follow the symbolic mergers and are attributable to the commercialism. Hence, the mergers do not improve audit efficiency and only lead to the classification of merged firms into the first-class group of trusted audit firms and take  advantage of the merged audit firms. The inconsistence between the results of this study and previous studies shows the differences between the consequences of mergers between Big and Non-big audit firms. This research is a rich avenue for future studies in the area of audit firms’ mergers differences and consequences for the case of non-big audit firms with different environmental attributes. The findings of this study also draw legislators’ attention to the real consequences of mergers and help them to provide appropriate privileges and incentives for mergers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of merged audit firms.

IntroductionManagement accountants (MAs) have two functions in organizations: consulting and controlling. Therefore, performing these two functions leads to conflict. Management accountants need different skills to be effective in performing their roles. Our study examines whether MAs and Financial managers believe that MAs need interpersonal skills, conceptual, and/or technical skills to be influential and effective in performing this expanded role.  HypothesesThe main question is, Do management accountants, financial managers and internal auditors believe that interpersonal, conceptual, and technical skills affect MAs’ effectiveness and influence? Thus, to answer this question, the following hypotheses will be tested:Technical skills positively affect MAs’ effectiveness.Conceptual skills positively affect MAs’ effectiveness.Interpersonal skills positively affect MAs’ effectiveness.Technical skills positively affect MAs’ influence on management.Conceptual skills positively affect MAs’ influence on management.Interpersonal skills positively affect MAs’ influence on management.The combination of technical and conceptual skills positively affects MAs’ effectiveness.The combination of technical and interpersonal skills positively affects MAs’ effectiveness.The combination of conceptual and interpersonal skills positively affects MAs’ effectiveness.The combination of technical and conceptual skills positively affects MAs’ influence on management.The combination of technical and interpersonal skills positively affects MAs’ influence on management.The combination of conceptual and interpersonal skills positively affects MAs’ influence on management.  MethodTo collect data, 257 management accountants, financial managers and internal auditors of Iranian public companies were surveyed and a partial least squares path model was developed.  ResultsWe conclude that according to the internal auditors, financial managers and MAs’ perceptions, Technical and conceptual skills are associated with their effectiveness, while interpersonal skills influence management’s decision making. We also find that technical, conceptual and interpersonal skills are jointly associated with the influence and effectiveness of MAs.  Discussion and ConclusionAccording to the research findings, MAs need interpersonal skills (i.e., ability to constructively challenge and question assumptions, numbers, and their meanings), conceptual skills (i.e., making and leading decisions consistent with the organization’s business environment and strategy), and/or technical skills (i.e., computer, accounting, and data modeling) to be influential and effective

Introduction  In this study, the whistleblowing model of Iran's independent auditors has been explained.  MethodThe research is combined (qualitative-quantitative), in the qualitative part, the Grounded Theory method has been used. Data collection tools in this section are in-depth semi-structured interviews. The statistical population of the study is the members of the audit organization up to the theoretical saturation stage (19 interviews) in 2019, and purposive sampling has been used.  ResultsThe collected data were analyzed using open, axial and selective coding and the final model was extracted. Quantitative modeling of structural equations using Smart PLS 3  software has been used. The statistical population in the quantitative phase of the research consists of partners of auditing firms, managers and supervisors of the Iranian Society of Certified Public Accountants and the auditing organization. The measurement tool is in the quantitative part of the questionnaire and the measurement scale was 5-choice. At first, the measurement models were reviewed and the validity and reliability of the measuring instrument were confirmed. Then, in the structural model section, the predictive power of the model was evaluated.  Discussion and ConclusionAccording to the results of this research, the most important consequences of whistleblowing auditors are increasing credibility in the profession, satisfaction, public trust, reducing information asymmetry, macro and national consequences (amendment of transparency laws and regulations), planning for the development of ethical principles of the profession and policy making. In attracting auditors, especially certified accountants, increasing the auditor's independence and improving the control system will cause auditors to warn and increase the credibility of the profession.