Search

The main goal of this research is to identify and rank factors affecting innovation in accounting. In this research, firstly, accounting specialists were selected by purposeful sampling methods, and then qualitative data were collected using open questionnaires. After analyzing the collected data using the phenomenology method, 11 factors were identified. Subsequently, a survey involving 17 faculty members from the accounting departments of Iranian public universities was conducted, and the Bayesian best-worst method was employed to rank these identified factors. Based on the results, the top 3 factors affecting innovation in accounting, in order of importance, include advances in information technology, changes in the business environment, and the level of financial knowledge and analytical skills of accountants. In order to improve the context of innovation in accounting, the results of this research suggest accountants should have general information about business and advances in information technology. They also, as the human capital of the innovation process in accounting, should continuously improve their level of financial knowledge and analytical skills.IntroductionIn recent years, the information technologies, such as cloud service models, big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain are rapidly transforming the business environments and have raised concerns about the future of the accounting profession. Although these emerging technologies are still designed for the day-to-day work of accountants, they can significantly change the future work of accountants (Moll & Yigitbasioglu, 2019). It seems that in the face of the said technologies, the provision of accounting services, such as bookkeeping, preparing financial statements, preparing tax returns, and auditing, have all been subject to radical innovations (Bowles et al., 2020). According to the accounting literature, a new set of skills is necessary for accountants due to these emerging technologies. This is while job advertisements of Iranian companies (https://www.irantalent.com), still demand traditional job roles for accountants and instead, new job titles, such as fraud investigation specialist and senior data analyst have been emerging that can cover the newly defined job roles of accountants by literature. It seems that to reinforce the position of accountants in organizations, a change in accounting and in other words, the search for innovation in accounting is necessary.To address the lack of accounting literature in the field of innovation, the primary objective of this study is to identify and rank the factors that impact innovation in accounting by using qualitative methods, to initiate the expansion of innovative thinking and the creation of innovative ideas in accounting.MethodologyThis study used the phenomenology method to identify the factors affecting innovation in accounting. The accounting specialists were chosen as an informant using purposeful and snowball sampling methods. The twelve accounting specialists who participated in the research offered a wide range of services, including auditing, consulting, financial statement preparation, and tax accounting. Data collection was carried out mainly by means of an unstructured questionnaire supported by a telephone interview. Finally, by the use of Colaizzi’s method of data analysis, the factors affecting innovation in accounting were identified (Wirihana et al., 2018, p. 31).The Bayesian best-worst method was selected to rank the factors affecting innovation in accounting. The decision-makers were seventeen faculty members in the accounting department of Iranian public universities who had publications that transfer the concept of some sort of innovation in accounting. Bayesian best-worst method is based on pairwise comparison (Mohammadi & Rezaei, 2020). Pairwise comparison data from the decision-makers who participated in the research was collected through a standard questionnaire. Finally, using Python code for the chosen method, the factors affecting innovation in accounting were ranked.Results and DiscussionAccording to the results of Colaizzi’s method of data analysis, eleven factors were identified, and using the Bayesian best-worst method, the optimal weight of all factors was calculated. Table 1 presents the overall optimal weight and rank of factors affecting innovation in accounting. The findings indicate that the factors of advances in information technology (0.127806), changes in the business environment (0.12760311), and the level of financial knowledge and analytical skills of accountants (0.10951763) are respectively the most important factors. According to the optimal weight of all factors, it can be seen that none of the factors are irrelevant to innovation in accounting, because the weight of the least important factor is equal to 0.06665689. In fact, neither factor has an optimal weight lower than 0.065.ConclusionThe field of research into innovation in accounting is new, therefore this research generates new insight into the area. Among the practical implications, the study suggests that accountants consider environmental factors, such as advances in information technology and constantly update their knowledge and skills. It also suggests that they should improve their overall business knowledge by familiarizing themselves with different companies' operations and financial processes. Moreover, it suggests that they develop their analytical skills to be able to clarify the implications of decision-making results. Lastly, this study suggests that to achieve innovation in accounting, the conduct of research related to innovation and the cooperation of accountants can generate ideas to improve innovation in accounting.The study was qualitative in nature, as a result, this study cannot argue that the nature of innovation in accounting and the factors affecting it remain unchanged over time. Therefore, this study recommends more research in this field to contribute to a better understanding of innovation in accounting.

Objective: Economic psychology’s research suggests that personality traits are associated with wealth accumulation or allocation decision making. Since dividend policy is also a wealth accumulation decision at the company level, it is likely to be affected by the personality traits of the management team. According to Upper Echelons' theory (UE), decisions of the senior management team can affect the company's financial performance. Although many studies have reported the effects of the characteristics of the management team on financial strategies, few studies have examined the personality traits and their effects on financial strategies. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between managerial personality traits and dividend policy in the companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. Methods: The personality trait criterion consists of five specific personality characteristics, including agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism (emotional instability), extraversion, and openness to experience. Big five personality characteristics are considered the most widely accepted glossary of personality traits. The use of this model has increased in financial and economic researches. A major challenge to examine the effects of executive personality is the cost and difficulty of measuring. Measuring personality traits usually requires the use of costly tools or in-depth interviews that are especially difficult for large samples. To measure these personality variables, we used the short form of the NEO personality questionnaire. In the short model, 12 questions measure each factor. Many countries have approved the short form of the questionnaire. To measure earnings policy, we used two variables of dividend to sales ratio and dividend to net profit after tax. The statistical sample consists of 71 companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2008 to 2017, and the questionnaire’s participants are the CEO or CFO of these companies. In this study, we used a quasi-experimental design and a post-event approach. To test the hypotheses, we used a structural equations model (version 3 of Smart PLS software). Results: The results of this study provide new insight into the factors affecting dividend payout policy. The results showed that after controlling the variables of firm size, growth of profitability, and growth of opportunities, there is a negative and significant relationship between agreeableness and dividend policy and a positive and significant relationship between management conscientiousness and dividend policy. This study also showed no significant relationships between each of the three personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, and Openness to Experience) and dividend policy. Conclusion: The findings indicate that some personality traits have affected the corporate dividend policy. The results confirm the Upper Echelons theory and show that the characteristics of the top management team affect a company's financial choices and performance. Due to the effect of personality traits on financial practices, companies need to use psychological and personality interviews in addition to scientific interviews to select their managers. To determine companies' financial strategies, investors and financial analysts need to consider the factors beyond the financial and accounting variables, such as behavioral and personality characteristics of corporate executives.

The Purpose of this research is investigating the usefulness of variables (dimension) reduction methods (selection and extraction) in stock returns of the companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). In this regard, through reviewing literature, 52 predictive features (variables) were specified as the initial features based on the popularity in the literature and the availability of the necessary data. By using variables selection (relief) and variables extraction (factor analysis) methods, optimal variables (factors) are selected or extracted from initial variables. Subsequently, the stock returns of 101 firms listed on TSE from 2004 to 2013 were predicted utilizing decision tree and linear regression. The experimental results confirmed the usefulness of variables (dimension) reduction methods in stock return prediction and better performance of relief (relative to factor analysis). Furthermore, the results indicated that decision tree outperforms the linear regression.

After behavioral finance was introduced, disagreements arose between advocates of behavioral finance and those of efficient-market hypothesis, such that the two financial areas were regarded as contradictory by experts in the profession. In contrast to the prevailing view, it seems that the two approaches are not at odds. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study address these two financial areas through a moderate approach. The present study examined works existing in the field of finance using analytical-critical approach and finally extracted the concept of “market behavior efficiency” through deductive reasoning. Accordingly, the prevailing view in the present research states that “in any point in time, the degrees of concepts presented in efficient-market hypothesis and behavioral finance prevail in stock market”, influencing the prices. This paper concludes that the market price of any financial asset is composed of three components: producers’ cost (primary cost or value); the effect of investors’ proper reaction to the good and bad news about the firm issuing the financial asset; and the effect of investors’ improper reactions to the available news (i.e. the effect of investors’ errors when making decisions). An analysis of the prevailing conditions in a market and factors effective on the formation of price of its available assets provide a vital insight into how related officials, domestic and international investors act. So, it brings about outcomes for determining investment strategies and academic literature.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between product market competition and financing costs of the firms listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. This proceeded with control effects of firm size, and also, financial leverage of firms. In addition, Herfindahl Hirschman Index (HHI), firms’ concentration ratios, and Lerner and adjusted Lerner index, were used as competition measures in product market. The statistical population constitutes of the firms listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange, in the years 1382-1390. Multivariable linear regression analysis was used to test the study hypotheses. The results indicated that, in overall, there were significant relationship between product market competition indices and cost of common stock capital, and between competition indices and cost of debt as the criterion of financing costs. Therefore, it was recommended that the firms, by designing and applying intelligent strategies and target-oriented financing cost decisions, make their position secure in the market and increase their market share.

The goal of this Thesis is to study the corporate governance mechanisms impacts on financial distressed and non financial distressed listed companies of Tehran Stock Exchange. This research population includes 118 companies of Tehran Stock exchange during 1381 to 1390. In this research, corporate governance mechanisms as independent variables are institutional ownership percent, ownership concentration percent, independent directors of board percent, percentage of free float stocks and company’s auditor independency situation. Control variables are size, operating profitability ratio, operating cash flows, debt and profitability ratios. Dependant variable of this research is to clarify the company’s financial distress or non financial distress which has been specified according to 141th act of business law. Research hypotheses are tested by independent t-test of sixth version of Eviews econometrics software. Results show that during research period in distressed companies, independent directors of board percent is lower and these companies have been encountered with distress. Furthermore, auditors independency situation have not been successful in any years of research nor during the whole period of research.

The impact of asymmetric information on cost of capital is issue that many researches have resulted in financial literature. This study examines the impact of information asymmetry on cost of capital of the firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. For this reason, we investigate 4 different criteria of cost of capital including cost of equity capital, capital cost of retained earnings, capital cost of liability and weighted average cost of capital. The study sample includes 94 companies listed in Tehran stock exchange for a period of 7 years (2005-2012). We used panel data simple and multiple analyses to examine the Hypothesis. Based on the results we find that there are significant relationship between Information Asymmetry and two criteria of cost of capital (cost of equity capital and capital cost of liability). But there aren’t any significant relationship between Information Asymmetry and other two criteria (weighted average cost of capital and cost of retained earnings). Given the above results, it can be stated that the operational definition of cost of capital is affecting on the presence or absence of the relationship with information asymmetry.

Dividend policy constitutes an effective factor on shareholders wealth maximization, as the main goal of the firms. For this reason, the question of dividend policy has been one of the most important topics in corporate finance. This study investigates the effects of ownership structure and board composition on dividend policy of the firms listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. In this regard, multiple regression is used and the effects of earning growth and previous year dividend policy is controlled. Investigations of the 77 firms from 1382 to 1386 reveal that the corporate ownership and board independence, positively and institutional ownership, negatively affect the dividend payout ratio of the firms listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. However, no evidence confirming significant correlation between managerial ownership and ownership concentration with dividend policy is found.

This research aims to examine the effects of corporate governance on earnings informativeness of the companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. The study takes the variables of ownership concentration, management ownership, institutional ownership, corporate ownership, board composition and size of the board to analyze earnings response coefficient. The sample consists of 70 companies in the years 2002 to 2008. The statistical model used for testing the hypothesis is ‘panel data’. The results show that earnings informativeness has a positive and significant relationship with ownership concentration and institutional ownership, while there is no evidence indicative of a meaningful relationship between variables of management ownership, corporate ownership, board composition and size of the board and earnings informativeness.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between operating cash flows and dividend changes. This is applied to the impact of operating cash flows on the lagged dividends and the net operating income. The statistical population was taken from listed companies in Tehran Stock Exckange, TSE, and a sample of 136 listed companies was surveyed. Despite the importance of operating cash flows in evaluating the cash dividend policies, the results showed no significant relationship between them. In order to re-examine the impact of operating cash flows on cash dividend policies, the sample is divided into three sub-samples with regard to growth level values. Again there were no significant relationship between dividend changes and operating cash flows of companies. This shows that there may be some other factors that create changes in the cash dividend policies.

Capital structure or a mixture of debts and equity constitutes an effective factor on shareholder wealth maximization, as the main goal of the firms. This research reviews the correlation between capital structure and profitability of 300 accepted firms in 12 industries and verifies confidence and significance of relationship between these two variables, determining the optimal capital structure in total levels of firms and various industries. The correlation results indicate that the relationship between capital structure and profitability depends on definition of profitability variable. Due to the significance of relationship between capital structure and return on assets (ROA) in total levels of firms and various industries, this variable has been used as a criterion of profitability and determining factor of optimal capital structure in genetic algorithms. For modeling input (capital structure) and output (ROA) data, support vector (SV) regression is used, and for optimization of capital structure, genetic algorithms are applied. The results obtained by genetic algorithms application, indicate that the maximum of profitability is achieved in lieu of using less financial leverage (debt). The finding agrees with correlation results indicating a negative relationship between capital structure and ROA.

The aim of this research is the investigation the relationship between the capital structure and institutional ownership mid to the other effective factors on this relation in Tehran Stock Exchange. The others factors include the percentage of stock dividend, profitability, business risk, assets structure, liquidity, growth, and company size. The statistical population of the research is 117 listed companies in TSE based on 7 industrial groups during 1383-1388. To testify of the research hypotheses applied pooled regression models with fixed effects by econometric software Eviews 6. The findings indicate all factors except the percentage of institutional structure were the effective factors on the capital structure in the level of total companies. However, in chemical industry, the percentage of institutional structure, the percentage of stock dividend, business risk, liquidity, and company size; in food industry, assets structures, liquidity, and company size; in metal industry, the percentage of institutional structure, the percentage of stock dividend, business risk, assets structure, liquidity, and company size; in non-metallic mineral industry, liquidity; in tile industry, business risk, and liquidity, and in materials and pharmaceutical products industry, liquidity, and company size were effective on the capital structure.