فهرست مطالب وحید منتی

Fraud is likely globally the most costly and common form of financial crime. The Fraudsters attacked large multinational businesses, small private companies, government agencies, nonprofits, and every other size or type of organization imaginable. The (ACFE) report truly is a global study of occupational fraud, and as its results make clear, no organization is immune from these crimes. According to the ACFE report, global losses are likely measured in trillions of dollars. This represents money that could have been spent creating jobs, producing goods and services, or providing public services. Instead, it went into the pockets of fraudsters. Internal auditors have a unique position in the fight against fraud to prevent and detect fraud because they are considered part of the internal controls (IC) that continuously evaluates and monitors the IC. IC is regarded as the primary mechanism of prevention, deterrence and detection of fraud. According to The International Standards for The Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (Standards), Internal auditors must have sufficient knowledge to evaluate the risk of fraud and must exercise due professional care by considering the Probability of significant errors, fraud, or noncompliance and the internal audit activity must evaluate the potential for the occurrence of fraud and how the organization manages fraud risk. The standards require the internal audit activity to evaluate the potential for fraud and how the organization manages fraud risk. Internal auditors must consider the probability of significant errors, fraud, noncompliance, and other exposures when developing the engagement objectives, and Internal auditors must exercise due professional care by considering the Adequacy and effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control processes & Probability of significant errors, fraud, or noncompliance. According to recent corporate governance reforms, Iranian companies have been required to establish an internal audit unit since last decade. The major companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange have established an internal audit function to fulfil the recent requirements. In recent years, the risk of fraud in Iranian organizations has increased as various frauds are disclosed in various organizations. These disclosures destroy the trust of investors and the general public. With the loss of trust, great damage is inflicted on companies and society. Therefore, the prevention of fraud is very important. Considering the importance of fighting against fraud and considering the unique role and position of internal auditors in companies in this regard and considering that recently internal audit Functions have been established in Iranian companies, so considering their reaction to the risks of fraud are not explained and also due to the lack of similar Iranian research in the past, this study examines the response of internal auditors to the risks of fraud in Iran.

Participants in this study are 106 chief audit executives of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange in 2021. Data were collected by survey. This research questionnaire is based on the 2015 Common Body of Knowledge (CBOK) study of the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation (IIARF) with slight changes. This study studied about 20% of the statistical population using random sampling. The response of internal auditors is measured through the professional competence of the human resources of the internal audit unit, how the internal audit work is performed, and the tools and software used by the internal auditors.

Analysis of the Research participants' responses and perceptions shows that Internal auditors lack sufficient competence and knowledge to evaluate and respond to the risk of fraud, they do not have enough knowledge about fraud prevention and detection techniques, mainly because they do not assess the risk of fraud, and they mostly do not use new tools to respond to the risk of fraud.

Generally, according to the analysis result and the chief audit executive of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange opinion, internal auditors do not adequately respond to fraud risks. That is, the internal audit functions of Iranian companies lack the necessary qualifications and resources and do not have appropriate formal procedures to assess the risk of fraud in the performance of audit work. Probably, this situation could be due to the low maturity of internal audits due to the infancy of internal audits in Iranian companies due to the recent corporate governance reforms in Iran. These findings indicate that internal audit in Iran requires special attention. Further promotion of university and professional education and allocation of sufficient resources to the internal audit units of Iranian companies are the leading suggestions of this research.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the association between the audit committee’s oversight of the internal audit function (IAF) and the nature of IAF activities. In this paper, it is assumed that regarding the role of the audit committee in preventing financial misstatements leads to an increase in the focus of IAF on internal controls. Based on the survey of 140 Chief Audit Executives (CAE) of Tehran Stock Exchange listed companies in 2020, research variables have been measured. A regression model is used to test the research hypothesis. Based on the opinions of CAEs participating in this research, the results show that the audit committee’s oversight of the internal audit function leads the IAF toward a more internal-controls-oriented focus. Also, the size of the company, financial leverage, ratio of inventories and the significant weakness in internal controls have a positive and significant effect on the IAF internal-controls-oriented focus. Finally, the results show that the sales growth rate and operating cash flow do not have a significant effect on the IAF internal-controls-oriented focus.

Data analytics has provided great opportunities in the field of internal audit. With the emergence of big data, the internal audit functions of organizations can use this data to identify risks and obtain a deep understanding of the business. Therefore, the present study has been conducted to investigate the effect of internal audit performance on the use of data analytics by internal auditors. A questionnaire was used to collect research data. The statistical population of the research is internal auditors working in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange and Iran Fara Bourse. 381 internal auditors were selected and surveyed in 2022. Excel and SPSS software were used for data analysis. The findings showed that according to the opinion of the respondents, the presence of the initial report line of the internal auditor to the audit committee leads to an increase in the use of data analytics. Also, from the point of view of internal auditors, internal audit functions which make more use of data analytics, improve the ability of the Chief Audit Executive (CAE) to build constructive& positive relationships. In addition, the use of data analytics improves the internal auditor's performance in assuring the Enterprise risk management system. In addition, the internal auditor's performance in detecting fraud leads to greater use of data analytics. Finally, the internal auditor's performance in IT risk-related audit activities lead to improved use of data analytics tools.

The purpose of this study is to identify and prioritize the factors affecting first-year Students’ Choice of accounting major in Iranian universities.

In order to test the research hypotheses, the method of structural equations and Friedman test and component path coefficients were used to prioritize the factors. By studying the literature and surveying new students, the factors affecting the choice of accounting were extracted and a research questionnaire was designed. Then, 239 first-year students of State universities of the country in 2020 from 635 of total student accourding to the Sanjesh Organization's Field selection booklet, were surveyed.

The research results showed that the characteristics of the field, individual characteristics, guiding factors, environmental factors, academic characteristics and university characteristics had a positive and significant effect on the choice of new students, respectively.

Top 10 indicators for choosing a field from the point of view of first-year students, are including prestige, possibility of continuing education at higher levels, independence, university reputation, professional membership, idealism, future career advancement, previous knowledge of accounting, social status, good job prospects and opportunities.

Contribution: 

This study has surveyed first-year students in Iranian university and ranked the factors influencing their decision to choose accounting major.

Financial statement comparability improves the quality of financial information and the information environment, and enabling users to identify similarities and differences between different companies, and evaluating the performance of managers and supervising them. So, it is expected that increasing the comparability of financial statements will limit the opportunism of managers. In this regard, in this study, the relationship between comparability of companies and debt maturity has been investigated. The data of the present study were collected using the financial information of 125 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange in the period 2013 to 2019 (882 observation). To analyze the data, a multivariate linear regression model of the generalized least squares type by utilizing combined data was used. The results showed that there is a negative and significant relationship between the comparability of financial statements and the maturity of the company's debt. Therefore, it can be concluded that the Financial statement comparability plays an important role in aligning incentives in the company and by reducing information asymmetry and potential agency costs, can substitute for the use of short-term debt by serving as a corporate governance mechanism.

Theoretically, the Internal Audit function (IAF) is expected to help increase the company’s value by reducing risk. Therefore, we have tested this theory experimentally. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the impact of internal audit performance on reducing perceived risk from the perspective of Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) and Chief Financial Executives (CFOs). We used a questionnaire to collect data and a multiple linear regression model was used to test the hypotheses. The statistical population of the research is all 620 companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) & Iran Farabourse in 2021. The number of collected questionnaires was 198. Results showed that from the point of view of CAEs & CFOs of those companies, internal audit performance has a significant effect on reducing perceived risk. Also, risk reduction is greater when internal audit reports to the audit committee than when it reports to executives. However, from the point of view of CAEs & CFOs of those companies, applying quality assurance and improvement program standards (QAIP, Standard 1300) and using internal audit function as Management Training Ground (MTG), does not lead to more reduction of perceived risk.

In the past decade, In order to develop corporate governance in Iran, regulatory authorities such as the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI) and the Securities & Exchange Organization (SEO) have mandated establishment of Audit Committee(AC) in companies and credit institutions through issuing guidelines and requirements. Due to immaturity of AC in Iran, there are many obstacles and challenges in front of it and on the other hand, many aspects of AC, including the challenges of its implementation in Iran, are less explained. Many aspects of the AC in Iran, including the Audit Committee Effectiveness (ACE) and it's obstacles and barriers, have not been clarified yet. Also, limited areas of the Audit Committee’s Challenges (ACC) and barriers have been considered in previous research. In order to explain and describe the various aspects of ACC and it’ s improvement strategies, by using the qualitative approach and Grounded Theory(GT), AC multi-stakeholders were studied for the first time in Iran. In this regard, 34 Participants were interviewed. In addition, 31 papers and seminars which published in Iranian professional magazines that reflect the viewpoints of the above-mentioned stakeholders were also used and analyzed. The data were analyzed by using the open coding, axial coding & selective coding approach that are specific to the GT and major categories, categories, and subcategories (concepts) were extracted. The ACC model as an emerged theory was designed. The model incorporates multidimensional of ACC.

In this study, the effects of female representation on a firm's audit committees on the financial and non-financial performance of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange have been studied. Therefore, 114 companies from 2013 to 2019 were studied. Financial performance indicators include 5 measures including return on assets, Tobin's Q ratio, return on equity, operating profit growth, and price to profit ratio, and non-financial performance indicators include 4 measures including defect-free rate, market share ratio, product market competition, and Intellectual capital. According to the literature, it was expected that female representation on the audit committee would have a positive and significant effect on the performance of companies. These hypotheses were tested by a multivariate regression test. In sum, the results show that the female representation on the audit committee has a positive and significant effect on the non-financial performance and has a negative effect on the financial performance of companies. Therefore, it is recommended that this issue be considered by shareholders, regulators, and other actors in corporate governance.

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

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ability of internal auditors in motivating, educating and presentation on the acceptance of their recommendations by the internal audit managers, audit committee members and board members.

The present research in terms of purpose is in the category of applied research, In terms of method and nature, it is of descriptive- survey type. The statistical community includes internal auditors, internal audit managers and audit committee members. The research has happened in the first quarter of year 1400. The statistical community is unlimited and Population size of statistical samples happens to be 384 with Cochran formula and samples have chosen accidentally. For testing our hypotheses we used Structural equation modeling.

Path analysis shows using motivation and education skills have positivite and meaningful relationship with accepting internal audits recommendations by management.

The result of this study shows that using persuasive skills can improve possibility of accepting internal audit recommendations. The results also shows that Gender, Experience and Organizational position are related with implementing internal audits recommendations.

Objectivity is one of the four fundamental principles of internal auditors Code of Ethics. In 2010, The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) introduced the Value Proposition and objectivity is one of the three core elements of it. Also, according to Auditing Standard No. 610, objectivity is one of the main components of internal auditing. Use of internal Audit Function (IAF) as a Management Training Ground (MTG) is in companies that internal auditors are promoted to executive positions. This can impair their objectivity and affect the reliance of independent auditors on their work. So the purpose of this study is to investigate the level of the External Auditor’s Reliance Decision on the Internal Auditors Function as a MTG. Because limited research has examined the impact of using IAF as a MTG, Therefore, in this regard, the relationship between the External and Internal auditor is not well explained, therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the reliance of independent auditors on the work of internal auditors according to the strategy of MTG. The statistical population of this study is External auditors including partners, managers, senior supervisors, and senior auditors of Iranian audit firms whose clients have an active IAF. In this survey, 100 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The results of the study show that external auditors perceive internal auditors employed in an IAF used as a MTG to be less objective. The results also showed that external auditors perceive the competence and due professional care of IAFs used as