فصلنامه دانش حسابداری
پیاپی 51 (زمستان 1401)

Decision usefulness of accounting information as the main aim of financial reporting has recently been questioned. Some Researches have documented the declining path of information usefulness. The evidence reveals a huge gap between the market value of firms and their financial information. This is an issue of concern that follows financial reporting under current theoretical frameworks to what extent it expresses the market value of firms and as a result, it is able to provide information needs of users? According to this many investigations the concern raises that current financial reporting fails to satisfy the information needs for decision making of investors. Due to the importance of this issue, in this research Information usefulness trend from perspective of the relation of accounting information with market value of companies has been investigated.

To examine the usefulness of accounting information collecting data like other empirical researches is based on using archival data such as firm financial information and information about financial markets. In this direction, data from 1210 observation or firm-years of listed firms at Tehran Stock Exchange and Iran Fara Bourse was collected and the data about earnings, net book equity values and market capitals was collected. Using accounting information including net profit and book equity value and examining the explanatory power of this information about the market value of companies is a common method in the value relevance researches. The data analysis then, was performed based on charts of trends and the estimation of multiple linear cross-sectional regression models. In such a way that for more robustness of the research results In addition to regression analysis charts and their interpretations have also been used.

The research results indicate that despite accounting information consist of Net Book Equity Value and Earning per Share are still value relevance and useful in decision making but this usefulness significantly decreased during time and its role in explaining the market value of companies has been declining and diminishing. At the beginning of the study period net income and book value information explains 67 percent of the market value of companies whilst by taking a downward path it has decreased to 30 percent. In the other words the trend of divergence of the firms market value compared to accounting information including net income and book value over time continues to increase and this means reduction in the usefulness of information and its fading in the analysis and valuations of investors. The time series test of adjusted multiple determination coefficients also confirms this matter. In a general conclusion it can be said this results indicates a degradation of position of financial reporting in the analysis and decisions of investors that alarms for the future of accounting and reducing the usefulness of this information can still be a concern of the responsible institutions in the field of accounting policy.

This research has been done due to the increase in criticisms towards financial reporting that the accounting information has lost the feature of being relevant and therefore its usefulness in investors' decisions. Research findings in line with other research conducted in this field, indicates reduction in the ability of financial information of firms in explaining the market values over time and as a result reducing its role in investors' analyzes and decisions. In the other words, The results has highlighted concerns about the reduction in usefulness of accounting information and creates insights that regulators and researchers investigate the root causes of declining information usefulness and if necessary, current Financial Reporting Regulations be revised. In other words according to the results of this research, it can be said that conducting more researches and finding the root causes of the decrease in the usefulness of accounting information seems necessary from the legislative institutions, researchers and academic community. In this regard, paying more attention to improving the quality of financial reports especially the quality of reported profits by firms along with addressing macroeconomic variables can improve the usefulness of accounting information. Also, in order to further investigate the reasons for such a situation research on behavioral financial effects in stock markets also seems necessary. Examining the effect of these factors along with the analysis of the reasons for the decrease in the usefulness of financial reporting will definitely lead to better knowledge and more appropriate policy making. Besides these, paying attention to the views and opinions of financial reporting users and examining the differences in their views with financial reporting objectives and what is now published as general purpose financial reporting can definitely be beneficial for the future of accounting.

Today, the major share of enterprises in the countries are small and medium-sized enterprises, and these enterprises play an important role in the economy. One of the main obstacles to the survival of small and medium-sized enterprises is the problem of financing. Lack of transparency of financial information and increased credit risk is the most important obstacle in attracting the necessary financial resources by these firms. Having a set of accounting standards tailored to the conditions and limitations of these firms can largely address these challenges. One of the important sources for reporting small and medium-sized enterprises is the standards published by the International Accounting Standards Board.In this study, the need to make adjustments to the requirements for recognizing and measuring international financial reporting standards of small and medium-sized entities based on the conditions of these business units in Iran has been investigated.

In this research, the mixed research method has been used. Due to the fact that this research has examined the necessity of applying adjustments in some provisions of the SMEs standards, it is necessary to examine the various aspects of the recognition and measurement requirements of these standards through interviews with experts. Therefore, it is necessary to use the qualitative research method in the first stage. Content analysis method was used to analyze qualitative data. In this regard, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 managers and partners of auditing firms and standardized members of the auditing organization who were selected by the method of snowball.After identifying the items that need to be adjusted in the qualitative stage, in the second stage, information is collected and analyzed through the quantitative research method and using the questionnaire tool. The binomial and Friedman tests were used to analyze the quantitative data. In this regard, through stratified sampling method, 315 samples were selected from certified public accountants and a questionnaire was distributed among them.

The research findings indicate that the international financial reporting standards of SMEs should be adjusted in five areas. In the cash flow standard, it should be permissible to present some cash flows in a net basis. For reasons including the usefulness of presenting information in a net form, in cases where full international standards allow the presentation of amounts in a net form, and also because it does not affect the simplification of applying for small and medium-sized business units, the use of this method of presentation is justified.In the Intangible Assets Standard, intangible assets created during the development phase must be invested under certain conditions. Due to the decrease in the motivation of the managers of SMEs to carry out research and development expenses and considering the importance of these expenses for SMEs (especially companies active in the field of information technology), the more appropriate procedure is to allow capitalization of development expenses.In the business combinations standard, the acquirer should account for acquisition-related costs as expenses in the periods in which the costs are incurred. Due to the failure to correctly calculate the amount of goodwill in the case of adding acquisition-related costs to the investment purchase price, the board's revision in the new draft of the standard is to expense these expenses instead of capitalizing them and finally, due to the lack of effect of capitalization of acquisition-related costs in simplifying the work for SMEs, the use of this method is justified.In the investments in associates standard, the accounting for investment in associates should be done by equity method. Due to the fact that if the SMEs are given the right to choose the accounting method of investments in associates, it will lead to the use of the cost method, as a result, the accounting numbers will be far from reality. Also, considering the complexities of using the fair value method in Iran, the use of equity method can be justified.Finally, In the borrowing costs standard, the financing costs of eligible assets should be capitalized. Due to the inflationary conditions of Iran and the tendency of companies to obtain financing through loans, the figure of interest expense in the profit and loss statement is important in some SMEs, and spending these expenses leads to the distortion of the profit and loss statement. Therefore, it can be appropriate to use the method of capitalizing financing expenses for qualified assets. 

The results indicate that the best strategy in applying the international financial reporting standards for SMEs is the strategy of adjusting some requirements for recognition and measurement based on the conditions of these entities in Iran.

One of the active financial entities in the Iranian capital market is brokerage companies, which have played an important  role in the recent capital market developments. These entities usually have an entire business because of a lack of granting a permit to such entities. On the other hand, these entities were ignored due to a lack of disclosing their financial statements. Researchers in financial and accounting areas have rarely propounded them due to their financial data unavailability. However, due to the notice of many capital market activists to these entities, and requests  for the increase of financial transparency in these entities, and discussions about the initial public offering of these entities in order to destroy the exclusivity of their business, accounting profit is one of the items of financial statements of these entities which has been noticed by many beneficiaries and users of financial statements, because this item includes essential information for other beneficiaries and managers as rewards. Therefore, many managers and providers of such financial statements and reports try to adjust their profit values to preserve their own companies (increment of company's value in valuation for Initial Public Offering) and their benefits. making financial decisions by users of financial statements requires evaluating and focusing on the financial position, performance and cash flows of the entity and using them in the expected forecasts. Since the calculation of profit of business company is influenced by accounting methods, judgment, personality and experiences of preparator and the preparation of financial statements is the responsibility of the management of the company, so the type of management personality is one of the important factors affecting their behavior in earning management. Since opportunistic earnings management can be considered as examples of abnormal and inefficient behavior, As a result, dark (negative) personality dimensions can play a role in the development of earnings management. On the other hand, because of management’s position to do, earnings management can play a significant role in intensifying and weakening the actions of managers. The existence of moral leadership can act as a moderating factor. Therefore, in this study, due to the lack of review of the cases in Iran, the effect of ethical leadership style in reducing the dark personality dimensions of people involved in earnings management was investigated.

One of the financial institutions active in the capital market, which play a significant role in the evolution of the capital market, are brokerage companies, which have been less studied in the researches of finance and accounting in Iran due to the non-disclosure of the information of their financial statements. So, the statistical population of the present study consists of brokerage company registered at the Stock Exchange Organization, which finally selected 80 brokerage firms using elimination sampling. Measurement of earnings management and determination of the person involved in earnings management was performed based on the data of financial statements in the period 2012 to 2020.And standard questionnaires of dark personality and ethical leadership and financial statement data have been used. Also, the multiple regression test and structural equations model used. Because standard regression analyses substantially ignore many measurement errors in descriptive variables, and cannot study the direct and indirect effects of involved variables in a model, the relationship between dependent and independent variables is not clear in these models. The Structural Equations Model is used and uses Lisrel 8.8 Software and Structural Equations Model to determine their relationships.

The results indicate that most of the people involved in earnings management are the CEOs of these companies. In addition, the results indicate a significant negative relationship between ethical leadership and Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and generally indicate the negative impact of ethical leadership on reducing the dark personality dimensions of people involved in earnings management Which confirms the leader-member exchange theory.

The results of this study indicate that ethical leadership in any company by establishing ethical communication, playing an ethical role (being a role model) and seriousness in paying attention to ethics by using methods to strengthen ethical behavior and reduce immoral behavior (being pragmatic), can affect the ethical mood and ethical condition. Eventually, this will reduce the incidence of dark personality traits of people involved in earnings management in this companies. These results highlight the role of self-regulatory organizations' oversight of brokerage performance. This research indicates the positive effects of SEO regulations for compelling brokerage companies to follow an ethical leadership style in their brokerage companies. On the other hand, this can be attributed to the necessity of observing ethical principles and applying ethical leadership style by board members in these companies due to their parallel monitoring and inspection of a self-regulatory organization (Securities Exchange  Organization, Tehran Stock Exchange, Iran Fara Bourse, Iran Mercantile Exchange, and Iran Energy Exchange). The monitoring discussions in these companies have received tremendous attention due to their businesses' exclusivity, including lodging various offending files about such companies in the Committee for the Investigation of Violations of SEO, which caused managers of these companies to pay attention to ethical principles more.

The study style and motivation of learners have changed during the Corona epidemic. On the other hand, scientific and professional authorities in accounting have long demanded the use of new and active methods in various accounting courses. Accounting course materials have traditionally been known as "dry subjects", full of structured definitions of technical terms, laws, criteria and complex concepts and significant and confusing numbers, and often criticized by accounting students for their lack of flexibility in problem solving and inadequate communication skills.The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of several new teaching methods in the field of virtual education on the learning, retention, and motivation of academic achievement of accounting. 

The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design and control group. The statistical population included all management accounting students in the academic year 2019-2020 and the sample using available sampling included two groups of students, a total of 50 people (25 students in the experimental group with active and group training and 25 students in the control group with traditional training). After selecting the samples, a pre-test was held and other basic information was received from the students through a questionnaire. Collaborative method flipped learning approach, and learning with mind maps were implemented by using the media and educational systems of the university. After implementing each educational method, a test was used to measure learning and with another interval of two weeks, another test for measuring students' retention was used. 

The results of the analysis of covariance show that the participatory method has been effective on students' learning and retention, but the effectiveness of flipped methods and mind map learning in the virtual classroom on these variables has not been significant. But in general, the use of these new and active methods has led to improving the motivation of students' academic achievement. 

In the current research, considering the corona epidemic and the virtual nature of education at the level of the country's universities, three new and active methods of cooperative education, reverse and learning with a mind map were implemented with the help of virtual education systems and messengers in the management accounting classroom, and the effects of the application of these methods on Students' academic performance and motivation have been evaluated. The results of this research showed that the use of collaborative method in virtual space is effective on students' learning and memoryCollaborative homework-based teaching in the virtual classroom allows learners to become more cognitively involved with the subject, more cognitive processing of data and input information occurs, and better-categorized data and information in learners' long-term memory. Factors that have increased the learning and retention of students in the experimental group compared to the control group. However, the platform required for the flipped teaching method to solve active practice in virtual classes is associated with limitations, and while providing the content of the content in the form of video and audio files in virtual conditions is always provided and the student in the experimental group compared to the control group with special event And there is nothing different that will have a significant impact on his learning and memory. Also, the use of a mind map in the problem-solving ability, creativity, and critical thinking required in management accounting topics does not help much, and Because undergraduate accounting exams are often problem-solving, the use of this method has not had such an impact on the learning and retention of management accounting students. However, active teaching methods in the virtual classroom and the context of the Corona epidemic, by providing a different context, have been able to affect the motivation of students in the accounting class, which is often dry and boring for students. The combined use of them is therefore recommended in the accounting class. The field of accounting education in the country needs transformation and the results of this research showed that various educational methods can improve the motivation of the academic progress of accounting students and some of these methods are also effective on their learning and memory. Therefore, it is appropriate for teachers and researchers of accounting education to familiarize themselves with, apply and evaluate new and innovative educational approaches in different accounting courses. The findings of this research have good results for accounting teachers and higher education curriculum planning office in designing and implementing accounting curriculum based on new and diverse educational methods for virtual accounting classes. According to the authors of accounting textbooks, they can use the non-traditional educational tools and methods mentioned in this article, such as drawing a mental map or doing group activities, in compiling exercises for each topic.

Dysfunctional audit behavior is every action that does not meet auditing standards and it is a serious problem for the auditing profession which can lead to its failure. The failures of the auditing profession have created public pressure to improve the auditing process. Therefore, paying attention to professional responsibilities has become more important. The high rate of dysfunctional behavior in the audit profession, the importance of providing practical concepts that determine what factors lead to inefficient behavior, and the insufficiency of the amount of literature that has identified and explained these factors, all make the need for more research on this issue necessary. The purpose of this study is to render a model of dysfunctional audit behavior according to the environmental characteristics and the condition of the audit profession in Iran.

Because there is no theory in the field of dysfunctional audit behaviors and there is no comprehensive research in this field in our country and also considering that the auditing profession in Iran (from the perspective of legal environment, regulatory mechanism, the size of the auditing firms, the executive mechanism of audit processes, the mechanism of selecting and replacing the auditor, etc.) has its own characteristics, the method of grounded theory can be used. In order to increase the speed and accuracy of the analysis, Maxqda software was used. The statistical population of the study includes partners and managers of auditing firms, managers of the audit organization, managers of institutions supervising the audit profession and other experts in the field of audit quality. According to the purpose of the study, the snowball sampling method was used for in-depth interviews. After conducting 16 interviews with experts, the research team determined that the collected data reached the point of saturation and there was no need to conduct new interviews. Since there are three different approaches (systematic, emergent and constructivist) in foundation theorizing, the systematic approach has been used in this research.

The results provide an integrated and appropriate model for the conditions governing the Iranian auditing profession. This model includes causal conditions, intervening factors, contextual conditions and strategies related to inefficient audit behavior and its consequences. In this research, the research model is presented in two ways; first, the pattern of ineffective audit behavior is presented through a diagram and then it is explained. As the result show, the causal conditions affecting dysfunctional audit behavior were: Professional ethics of partners and responsible managers, Knowledge and experience of partners and responsible managers and Planning, control and supervision. The most important factor among the causal factors is professional ethics. The intervening conditions were: effective accountability from the auditors, community quality control, labor market appropriateness, economic pressure, institutional structuring, stay in profession and time pressure. Contextual factors included the public or private nature of economy, the culture of participation and the development of the auditing profession. The central category of this research is dysfuntional audit behavior, which is placed in the center of the model, and other categories are related to it. Weakness of professional ethics, lack of sufficient knowledge and experience of responsible partners and managers, lack of planning and supervision lead to the adoption of the following strategies: 1. Avoiding the full audit process 2. Providing a favorable report of the employer's opinion.

According to the results of the research, the most important consequences of the auditor's dysfunctional behavior include the failure to discover important distortions, the reduction of audit quality including the failure to discover significant distortions, the reduction of audit quality, the deterioration of the reputation of the profession in society, the reduction of financial transparency and the economic health of society, and lack of optimal allocation of resources. At the end, suggestions are provided according to the results of the research. Based on the findings of the research and with regard to the identified categories, several practical suggestions were presented to auditing institutions and policy-making institutions including: 1. Emphasis on teaching the standards of ethical principles, obligations and requirements of the profession along with teaching skills and knowledge in universities 2. Updating knowledge and increasing the quality of experience by partners and managers responsible for work 3. Attention to the ability of the audit institution with the volume, size, and complexity of the audit work and 4. Enlarging the auditing institutions, diversifying the services and providing the necessary arrangements by the Iranian association of certified public accountants for the enlargement of the institutions, and so on.

Today, due to industrialization and increasing environmental pollution, one of the main concerns of governments and environmental protection agencies is controlling and reducing pollutants. This means paying attention to earning profit organizations should not without paying attention to their environmental performance. As a deterrent policy, environmental taxes play an essential role in regulating greenhouse gas concentrations and have been in place to reduce environmental damage and pay more attention to the environment. Therefore, paying attention to fulfilling environmental responsibility obligations while earning profit has become more and more necessary; A necessity that is very important in achieving sustainable development goals. however, developing countries, such as Iran, do not pay much attention to the benefits of this policy due to a lack of awareness and implementation problems. Therefore, this study is supposed to develop a model to implement environmental taxes. 

This study uses a combined quantitative-qualitative method. In the first stage, 22 factors affecting the implementation of environmental taxes were identified from extant research and classified into 6 dimensions. These dimensions include the dimension of damage reduction, social dimension, environmental dimension, legal dimension, organizational dimension, and economic dimension. 5 academic experts approved these factors and their categories. The research method at this stage is the descriptive survey, and the data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire based on a five-point likert scale, the reliability of which was 94.6% based on Cronbach's alpha. The sample size of this step was 196 using Cochran's formula. In the second stage of the research, the purposeful expert selection method was used to examine the relationships between the dimensions confirmed in the previous stage. For this purpose, the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) questionnaire was designed and provided to university professors and research experts who had valuable information about this field. Finally, using ISM, a model for implementing environmental taxes was created. 

In the first stage, 6 dimensions and 22 factors affecting the implementation of environmental taxes were approved by 198 experts. The experts of the first stage included senior managers and experts of the finance and tax departments of Tehran, Kerman, and Shiraz provinces. As a result of the sign test, considering that the significance level of the test for all factors and dimensions was 0.000, which is less than 0.05, it can be concluded that all the factors and their dimensions have a significant impact on the implementation of environmental taxes. The second stage (ISM method) was performed using the opinions of 24 university professors and research experts, and the results showed that among the 6 dimensions, social and environmental dimensions are independent variables and the main pillars of the implementation of the environmental taxes model, and then the legal dimension is significant. The organizational dimension, economic dimension, and dimension of damage reduction are placed in the next levels, respectively. The analysis of MICMAC showed that organizational, economic, and damage reduction dimensions are more influenced by other dimensions and from a systemic perspective, they are among the dependent dimensions in the model. In other words, these dimensions are the output of interactions between other dimensions. Three social, environmental, and legal dimensions are included in the independent or influencing variables in the model. None of the dimensions are present in the link part, and the autonomous part is also free of variables. 

Modeling the factors affecting the implementation of environmental taxes can help governments in implementing this policy, which can increase the economic benefits of governments in addition to controlling environmental pollution. Findings indicate that a step-by-step consideration of these dimensions is the key solution to the implementation of the environmental taxes model. In this way, governments can both achieve better economic performance and prevent environmental damage. This study publishes results that demonstrate the effectiveness of environmental taxation in supporting sustainability and achieving sustainable performance while addressing economic issues.

Learning styles are individual competencies and priorities that affect how information is perceived, collected, and processed. In fact,The subject of learning is one of the basic concepts in cognitive psychology theories, which plays an essential role in people's decision making. Learning is usually interpreted as a beneficial process in which the learner actively directs his learning process by approaching information and relating it to his previous knowledge. Although learning is an event process that leads to the achievement of a specific result, by identifying the learner's style and preferred learning methods, one can achieve the successful performance of the individual in information processing. Therefore, learning styles are prominent and distinctive features that are stable to a certain extent that show how learners perceive learning from the surrounding environment and respond to it. These styles are beliefs, preferences and behaviors that are used by people to help them learn in a given situation. Behavioral research in auditing shows that individual psychological differences have an impact on the analysis of evidence and making decisions and the professional judgment of auditors, so that the auditors' cognitive skills and efforts in the auditing process play an important role in improving It has audit quality. Because audited financial statements with high quality, as one of the useful information in decision-making, reduces investment risk, therefore, the performance and professional judgment of auditors are influenced by psychological factors. Takes so that learning styles such as abstract conceptualization styles and objective experience have an effect on how auditors process information, make decisions, and perform properly. Therefore, determining learning styles helps auditors to improve their strategies in collecting, processing information and making useful decisions, in addition to proper training and learning of professional principles and procedures, and thus making judgments. Improve their professional. Therefore, the study of learning styles in auditing is important because the auditor's proper perception of his performance through the influence of learning styles makes the auditor take steps to improve the quality of auditing. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of learning styles with the approach of the Mediator Skills Multidimensional Model on auditor performance.

The method of the present research is a descriptive survey and, from the perspective of the purpose, it is of applied research that the standard questionnaire has been used. The research sample is 517 auditors working in the auditing organization and auditing firms, members of the Iranian Society of Certified Public Accountants in 2020, who were selected by simple random sampling. Also, research hypotheses were tested by modeling structural equations using PLS software.

In the field of psychology, people have different abilities in learning, so the learning of people in the same situation is different, which is due to different learning styles. learning styles in the mediation skills model include the beliefs, preferences, and behaviors that individuals used to improve their learning. Thus, learning styles affect auditors' beliefs about their ability to do things successfully, as well as their professional decisions and judgments. Therefore, to achieve the purpose of this study, first, the correlation between learning styles based on the model of mediator skills and auditor performance was evaluated. The results of the Pearson correlation test show a significant relationship the between research variables. Then, the impact of learning styles on the auditor's performance through structural equation modeling was investigated. The findings of the present research show that learning styles with the approach of the Mediator Skills Multidimensional Model have a significant effect on auditor performance. Also, abstract sequential conceptualization styles, concrete sequential experience, abstract random conceptualization, and concrete random experience have the greatest impact on the auditor's performance, respectively.

The results of this study show that learning styles affect the performance of the auditor. Therefore, the results of the research can improve the decision-making and professional judgment of the auditor and introduce the concepts of learning theory based on the Mediator Skills Multidimensional Model into the behavioral research texts in auditing. According to the findings of this study, auditing firms are recommended to auditors with learning styles of consecutive abstract conceptualization and consecutive objective experience due to the type of their learning characteristics and having the highest impact factor, for multiple tasks (analytical and intuitive) to operate. In addition, measures should be taken to improve the professional rank of auditors, in addition to focusing on technical skills and other general competencies, the type of their learning style should also be considered. Also, policymakers in the auditing profession are advised to hold specialized and educational seminars to make auditors aware of the impact of learning styles on improving the decision-making and judgment process in the auditing profession.

Due to the expansion of societies and economic and commercial issues, the demand for financial and economic information has increased and the financial statements of companies that contain this information are of great importance to users. This information is effective on people's decisions when it is reported at the right time, otherwise some of them lose their economic value. The timely submission of financial statements depends on the completion period of the audit process, as financial statements cannot be released before the audit is completed. The duration of annual audit is stated as one of the most important factors determining the timeliness of financial reporting of companies. The delay in submitting the audit report reduces the credibility and quality of financial reporting. According to previous researches, the timely presentation of financial reports enriches the content of information, which affects the value of the company. Considering that the reporting of financial information is delayed until it is not audited by independent auditors, the auditing of financial statements by external independent auditors is very important, because audited financial statements are considered to be the most important reliable sources for investors and their users. It can be said that financial statements audited by external independent auditors are the only and best source for external users. The issue of delay in providing the audit report is significant and vital for external users because faster access to information is effective in their optimal decision-making and also increases the possibility of earning profit. The purpose of this study is to apply a meta-analysis approach to combine and analyze contradictory findings from various studies to investigate the effect of characteristics and accounting complexity criteria of the company on the audit report lag. 

The current research is applied research in terms of classification based on the goal, and descriptive-meta-analytical in terms of nature and method. Meta-analysis is a research approach that helps the researcher to achieve a suitable combination of the quantitative results of contradictory and non-contradictory studies in the past, to explain the contradictions and to identify the structural variables that moderate the results of the past studies. Meta-analysis basically follows the steps of a scientific research and has almost the same steps as quantitative research, with the difference that here the sampling unit is a study instead of a subject, and because it is actually a combination of data from several studies to produce a single estimate, therefore, from a statistical point of view, It is considered a type of multi-factorial method. The community under investigation of this research is internationally published authoritative articles (A*, A, B, C) in the list of 2019 (ABDC) and domestic authoritative articles approved by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. In order to achieve the purpose of the research using Lipsey & Wilson (2001) method and also Cochran’s Q test and Egger test, a total of 77 studies including 20 internal studies during 2010 Up to 2019 and 57 foreign studies during the years 1989 to 2019 were reviewed. In these researches audit report lag was considered as a dependent variable and the characteristics of the Organizational complexity as an independent variable. CMA2 software is used in meta-analysis in order to perform the necessary calculations, including calculating the effect size, after collecting the desired variables from the relevant research. 

The results of this study shows that there is a negative relationship between the firm size and the audit report lag, while other characteristics, extraordinary items, subsidiary, merger or acquisition, foreign sales, restatement of financial statements and Business segments of the company have a positive relationship with the audit report lag. 

Considering the expansion of accounting and auditing knowledge and the importance of providing timely information for financial and economic decisions, the factors that cause delays in the submission of audit reports and ultimately audited financial statements are very important. The delay in submitting the audit report causes an imbalance in the level of access of users to financial information, which can ultimately affect the capital market transactions and the value of the company. The conclusion of the present meta-analysis showed that one of the complexity criteria used in most studies is the size of the company. Larger companies, with more resources and facilities, seek for faster auditing and reduce delays in the audit report. It can also be stated that the existence of other criteria related to the complexity of the company will lead to the expansion of the audit process and increase the delay in submitting the audit report.