علی فاطری

The occurrence of a large number of scandals and financial corruption in some Iranian city councils and municipalities in the last decade shows evidence of unethical and irresponsible practices from the economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Also, the development process of cities and the consequent increase in municipal revenues, on the one hand, and the lack of proper supervision on the performance of municipalities due to the existence of the city council, on the other hand, have increased the power and authority of municipalities. Thus, municipalities face increasing pressure from citizens to have a broad attitude regarding their goals and activities in economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Sustainability reporting is one of the main drivers of change in the company's sustainability activities. Preparing a sustainability report can influence change in public sector organizations. Regarding the advantages of sustainability reporting in the various companies, including public and governmental organizations, to preserve the social rights of citizens, environmental resources, and the economic benefits of shareholders, the primary purpose of this research is to understand the current situation of sustainability reporting in municipalities, explaining its dimensions and indicators, and finally presenting a sustainability reporting model for municipalities.  The current research consists of three steps: 1. Identifying sustainability concepts and keywords in the literature using content analysis techniques; 2. Identifying the primary indicators of the topics discussed in the focus group using the coding method, 3. Using the method Delphi (which is conducted to validate the dimensions and indicators identified in the second stage), and 4. Finally, it will present the final sustainability reporting model for Iranian municipalities. In the first step, keywords that are used for sustainability reporting using the method of content analysis of sustainability reports of different cities (such as Sydney, Toronto, KF, Florida, and Dubai) and guidelines related to the field of sustainability (such as ESG, GRI, IFC, ISO26000, SASB, and CDP) were extracted. The necessary information was collected through the focus group in the second step, and the topics were discussed. The participants were selected from a group of experts from the Iranian municipalities (financial and economic, urban services, and green spaces). These people had the necessary knowledge, experience, expertise, scientific and professional sincerity in different ways and based on specific research. After identifying dimensions and indicators, we prepared and set up a questionnaire in the third step and distributed it to the experts from municipalities and other stakeholders. The Delphi method was used to create consensus and to screen sustainability categories. Finally, a proposed model of sustainability reporting for Iranian municipalities was presented. The findings show that the dimensions of sustainability reporting in municipalities include "economic", "environmental", "work and production", "management and human capital", "determinants of excellence and progress", and "reporting characteristics". Also, four indicators of economic performance, the economic conditions of the stakeholders, the municipalities' economic conditions, and the country's macroeconomic conditions are related to the economic dimension. Four indicators, including compatibility with the environment, environmental sustainability, infrastructure and facilities, and the allocation of facilities and privileges, are related to the environmental dimension. Six indicators, including sustainable supply chain, legal requirements, sustainable intellectual interaction (human capital), adherence to legal payments, use of technology, and corporate governance, belong to the work and production dimension. Six indicators of effective communication, ethical characteristics of accountants, the relationship between employee and manager, management ability, expert managers, and expert forces belong to the management and human capital dimension. Four indicators of participation and development of valuation methods, dealing without discrimination with offenders, criteria for determining rights and benefits, and responsibility and social involvement belong to the dimension of determinants of excellence and progress. Seven indicators, including accounting records, timeliness of report, compliance with accounting principles, neutrality of the report, report transparency, sources of collecting the report, and qualitative characteristics of the information, are the report's characteristics dimension. Sustainability reporting can be considered as a solution for making changes in the organizational management of municipalities, transparency in all municipal matters such as financial (economic), urban services and green space (environmental), social responsibility, and reacting to the requirements of all stakeholders. Exploring the sustainability reports of various cities in the world showed that they have no limitations on how to present and use the dimensions and indicators included in the current guidelines and standards, such as GRI, CDP, and SASB, to prepare the sustainability report. They do not follow a specified routine. In other words, in order to legitimize themselves, in line with accountability, these organizations voluntarily disclose sustainability reports. The results of this research can be utilized as a practical step to create the necessary understanding and motivation for sustainability reporting and to attract the managers' and regulators' attention to incorporate sustainability reporting in their voluntary or mandatory reporting to stakeholders with a sustainable development perspective.

The aim of the current research is to investigate the dimensions and reporting indicators of the sustainability of municipalities and to determine their weight and rank.

In other words, the research seeks the ranking and indicators of sustainability in municipalities. For this purpose, the proposed model of sustainability reporting of municipalities was examined and its weight and indicators were ranked using the hierarchical analysis method.

In summary, it can be stated that the ranking of sustainability reporting includes 1. Features of the report. 2. Factors of excellence and progress; 3. Management and human capital; 4. Work and production; 5. Economic and 6. Environmental factors.

Considering the asymmetry of information in the municipalities and considering the ignorance of the municipalities about the importance of voluntary disclosure including sustainable information for the beneficiaries or in other words the citizens, the findings of the research can be used as a solution to change the organizational management of the municipality. Transparency in all municipal affairs such as financial (economic), urban services and green space (environmental) and social responsibility, responding to the needs of all stakeholders should be considered.

Contribution: 

This research and its results can be an effective step to create the necessary understanding and motivation for this and to pay attention to the managers and compilers of regulations to include this category in the goals of voluntary or mandatory reporting to stakeholders with a sustainable development attitude.

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between managers' ability and lack of transparency of information in companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. Research hypotheses based on a statistical sample consisting of 106 companies during a 9-year period from 2009 to 2017 were tested using multivariate regression models. The results of this research show that there is no significant relationship between CEO's ability and lack of transparency in company information (including: index rate of lack of transparency in company information and trading volume). Also, there is a negative and significant relationship between the CEO's ability and lack of transparency in company information (including: the price difference in company stock trading and the stock market analysts’ prediction error).

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of Political Connections with the Government on the relationship between CEO power and capital structure decision making in companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. To this end, the CEO task duality criteria, CEO tenure and CEO ownership percentage were used to measure CEO power. Benchmarks such as book value leverage, market value leverage, short-term leverage and long-term leverage were used as capital structure representatives. Research hypotheses based on a statistical sample consisting of 106 companies during an 8-year period from 2011 to 2018 were tested using multivariate regression models. The results of the test showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between CEO power and capital structure (book value leverage, market value leverage, and short-term leverage). Also, there is a negative and significant relationship between the CEO power and the capital structure (long-term leverage). In addition, the relationship between CEO power with book value leverage, market value leverage and short-term leverage in companies with political relations is weaker. Finally, the effect of political relations with the government on the relationship between CEO power and long-term leverage is inverse and significant.

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of Institutional Shareholders on the relationship between CEO power and capital structure decision making in companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. To this end, the CEO task duality criteria, CEO tenure and CEO ownership percentage were used to measure CEO power. Benchmarks such as book value leverage, market value leverage, short-term leverage and long-term leverage were used as capital structure representatives. Research hypotheses based on a statistical sample consisting of 106 companies during an 8-year period from 2011 to 2018 were tested using multivariate regression models. The results of the test showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between CEO power and capital structure (book value leverage, market value leverage, and short-term leverage). Also, there is a negative and significant relationship between the CEO power and the capital structure (long-term leverage). In addition, institutional shareholders have a negative moderating effect on the relationship between CEO power and market value leverage.

Very able CEOs may also choose to disclose more information in order to signal the market about their superior skills, whereas less able CEOs may signal-jam the market's inferences about their ability levels by not providing full information and misleading the market, so that they hide behind the shield of high corporate opacity. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between CEO's tenure and lack of transparency of information in companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. Research hypotheses based on a statistical sample consisting of 106 companies during a 9-year period from 2009 to 2017 were tested using multivariate regression models. The results of this research show that there is a positive and significant relationship between CEO's tenure and lack of transparency in company information (including: index rate of lack of transparency in company information, trading volume, and the price difference in company stock trading). Also, there is no meaningful relationship between CEO's tenure and lack of transparency in company information (including: stock market analysts' prediction error and discretionary accrual items).

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of mandatory rotation of auditors on the relationship between audit fees and market value added, economic value added and growth opportunities for listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange. Research hypotheses based on a statistical sample of 106 companies during an 11-year period from 2007 to 2017 were tested using the multivariable regression model and panel data method. Results suggested that there is a positive and significant relationship between audit fees and market value added, economic value added, and growth opportunities for companies. Also, there is no significant relationship between the mandatory rotation of auditors and market value added, economic value added, and growth opportunities for companies. In addition, the mandatory rotation of auditors has a negative and significant effect on the relationship between audit fees and market value added of companies and has a positive and significant effect on the relationship between audit fees and economic value added of companies. Finally, the mandatory rotation of auditors has no significant effect on the relationship between audit fees and corporate growth opportunities.

The Initial Public Offer (IPO) that leads to entering new firms, and perhaps new investors, to a market, is important for stock exchanges and capital markets. Regarding the importance of IPO in the Tehran Stock Exchange, and the capital market surpassing rival markets, as well as the implementation of Article 44 of the Iranian constitution, it seems to be necessary to study the Iranian IPO. By this way, this research investigates the relationship between accruals earnings management and stock long term returns in the IPO firms. The research time scope was between 2001 till 2013, and the Log it regression model was used to test the research hypotheses. The findings showed that there was not significant relationship between accruals earnings management at the IPO year and the stock long term returns in the IPO firms.