نشریه حسابداری و منافع اجتماعی
سال نهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 34، پاییز 1398)

The globalization leads to the optimal allocation of resources globally and provides possibility of global development. In this regard, the need for information for making economic decisions is indispensable. Accreditation of this information and assurance is part of this process. Accordingly, adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards is expected to have a significant effect on audit profession, since the adoption of international accounting standards will lead to professional audit reports become more objective and usage of the fair value basis makes that repots have an independent commentary Accordingly, the present study aims to review the effect of the adoption of international financial reporting standards in the audit areas. The findings show that the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards in auditing, affects in several audit areas like the audit fee, audit choose, audit committee, and the specialization in audit industry and the audit report delays.  Undoubtedly, the awareness of these findings can, in addition to explaining the challenges ahead, equipped audit profession and make ready auditing professionals for such changes.

One of the earnings management consequences is investment inefficiency (over or under-investment) in companies. Also, it is expected that this issue will increase in companies with high agency costs. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between earnings management and investments inefficiency in companies with high and low agency costs listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. In order to test this, the hypothesis on a sample of 98 companies from 1386 till 1396 and using multivariate regression models were tested. For this purpose, the residual cash flow pattern Jensen (1986) and cash flow developed pattern Richardson (2006) was used to calculate the investment inefficiency. The positive and negative residuals will represent over investments and under investments, respectively and in this study is used as a proxy for investment inefficiency. Also, discretionary revenues and discretionary accruals as a proxy for earnings management were considered. The results show that there is a significant negative relationship between discretionary accruals and inefficient investment in firms with high agency costs. Also, results using a residual cash flow pattern Jensen (1986) as a proxy for investment inefficiency indicated a significant negative relationship between discretionary revenues and inefficient investment in firms with low agency costs.

Simultaneously with the prevalence of using the accrual basis for recording financial events in business entities, the use of operating cash or accounting earnings for the assessment of economic performance of business entities and the making optimal economic decisions has become one of the major challenges for investors and users of financial statements of business entities. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the output information from the accounting system is complementary and should be used simultaneously. In other words, if investors regardless of the proportion between the cash and accrual components of earnings, focus solely on accounting earnings or reported cash flows, the stock exchange price goes away from its inherent value. In this paper, with a glance at theory, the relationship between accruals and operating cash flows as an indicator in various evaluations is discussed. Finally, the potential time and economic factors that can change the relationship between accruals and cash flows are reviewed. It can be said that among the components, four factors included cash flow shock, Non-timing related accruals, poor match between revenues and expenses and amount of intangible assets affect the relationship between accruals and operating cash flows.

The incessant financial fraud resulting to corporate collapse and the failure of the statutory audit to detect and prevent fraudulent activities which had led to the impoverishment of investors had given rise to the need for forensic auditor. This paper considers the impacts of forensic auditor on corporate governance. The study was a theoretical research which considered the roles of forensic auditors in combating fraudulent activities, distinction of forensic auditor and statutory auditor, characteristic of forensic auditor and impact of forensic auditor on corporate governance. The results of this paper show that forensic auditors having improved management accountability, strengthened external auditor, independence and assisting audit committee members in carrying out their oversight functions by providing them assurance on internal audit report and also affect positively on corporate governance, thereby the result of their works is reducing corporate failure and prevent investor losses.

Setting accounting standards or modifying them has consequences. These consequences make accounting standards setting complex and difficult. The issue of whether accounting standard setters should take account of the effects, or consequences, of the standards, has been a subject of debate for decades. Finally, effects analysis integrated into the standard setting due process. Effects analysis is an analysis of the likely effects of the forthcoming standards or major amendment. It should be noted that effects analysis is a process and is not merely a single point-in-time event. In this paper, the dimensions of effects analysis of accounting standards have been examined, then related empirical research is reviewed and analyzed. Accounting researchers generally have studied the effects of a standard or the effects of a set of standards using market-based characteristics, accounting-based characteristics and analyst-based characteristics, as well as doing survey research. They use accounting and disclosure criteria such as earning management, income smoothing, timely recognition of losses and value relevance.

Using extensible business reporting language (XBRL) not only affects the qualitative characteristics of accounting information, but it can also have an impact on the time, cost and quality of auditing. The present study has aimed to examine the role of extensible business reporting language in continuous auditing. This research is an applied research in terms of the purpose of the study and it is an analytical survey in terms of research method. The statistical population of this study is composed of independent auditors and members of Iran’s official Accountants community. In order to collect the necessary information and the views of the members of the research population, a questionnaire containing five hypotheses and 25 questions were designed and were randomly distributed among 120 of the population members in 2016. Ultimately, the questionnaires that were filled out by the research samples were collected by the researchers. The data obtained from the questionnaires were analyzed using different statistical methods (binominal test, t-test, one-sample Wilcoxon test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test). The research results confirmed the research hypotheses and indicated that in the environment of extensible business reporting language, the time and cost of continuous auditing will be decreased and accuracy and quality of continuous auditing will be improved. In addition, using extensible business reporting language in continuous auditing will facilitate the extraction and analysis of data and accelerates the processes of executing continuous auditing.

Although establishing and retaining the relation with government are usually subject to acquiring the competitive but in markets with poor regulatory frameworks, this relationship can lead to the agency problem and costs associated with it. So, the purpose of the present research is the study of the relationship between the political connections and the agency costs due to the moderating role of audit quality in listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange between the years 2013 to 2017. In order to conduct this research, a sample consisting of 128 companies was selected. The hypothesis of this research were tested by using multi-variable regression and implementing Panel Data technique.  The findings demonstrated that there is a significant relationship between political connections and agency costs, and also audit quality modifies the relationship between political connections and agency costs.

In recent years, constant reporting on companies' sustainability and its dimensions have been considered from different perspectives of companies using corporate reports and financial statements. Sustainability reporting is the company's environmental, social, and economic achievements, and suggests that the business entity, in light of these issues, will implement its development plans in the future. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the board of directors’ characteristics on the sustainability report of companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. The statistical population of the study consisted of all companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. After reviewing, 95 companies were selected based on the systematic elimination method. The results of the hypothesis test indicate that the size of the board of directors, the independence of the board of directors, and ownership percentage of the board of directors have a significant effect on the disclosure level of corporate sustainability reports and financial reporting knowledge of the board does not have a significant effect on the level of disclosure of the sustainability report, as well as three variables such as company size, profitability and financial leverage have a significant effect on the level of disclosure of the corporate sustainability report.