Improvement Structure of Accountability in Iranian State Owned Companies

This study aims to provide a framework for improving the accountability of state-owned companies. Given the importance of providing a corporate accountability system in assessing the management of economic resources, the financial and operational aspects of performance are taken into account in order to prevent information asymmetry, to enable management performance evaluation in achieving the company goals and to provide benefits to the stakeholders.

While using the qualitative approach, the accountability status of Iranian state-owned companies has been examined and the related elements in the relevant statements and guidelines in selected countries were studied and the results were given to experts using the semi-structured interviewing tool to answer the research questions responses. The statistical population consisted of professional and academic experts with financial knowledge and executive experience. There were 16 interviewees.

To present the research findings, the elements related to the accountability were identified and coded after analyzing the interviews. Based on the findings, the core elements of the framework include nine topics including information disclosure, government budgeting and financial management, stakeholder communication, compensation policies, legal accountability, board reporting, role and responsibility of board committees, formulation Quantitative performance evaluation indices, compilation of relative performance evaluation indices. In addition the structure includes 55 items as sub-elements.

The research, based on outcomes, recommends policy makers to apply the findings of this study to formulate SOE’s accountability and provide relevant considerations and measures to improve their accountability. These elements set out standards, controls, and responsibilities that improve the accountability of Iranian state-owned companies.