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Informational efficiency is a fundamental aspect of capital market quality, and therefore, regulators, managers and practitioners attempt to find ways to improve the informational efficiency. Since prior studies primarily focus on the numerical attributes of corporate reporting, it is not yet adequately known whether or not the linguistic attributes of corporate reporting affect informational efficiency. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether corporate reporting readability (readability), as an important linguistic attribute of corporate reporting, affects informational efficiency.

To measure readability, this paper uses Fog index. Moreover, to measure informational efficiency, the paper uses stock return variance ratios.

The findings reveal a positive and significant association between readability and informational efficiency. Moreover, the findings show that the association of readability and informational efficiency is stronger for firms facing higher information asymmetry. The findings further document the spillover effect of readability, in the sense that the readability of economically related public firms affects a firm’s informational efficiency. Overall, the results support the arguments that readability enhances informational efficiency.

This study contributes to the literature by providing evidence on the internalities and externalities of readability in the context of informational efficiency. Thus, the study will be of interest to regulators, managers and practitioners, especially in emerging capital markets, who tend to find practical and easy ways to improve informational efficiency.

Chief executive officer (CEO) ability may have an effect on various corporate reporting decisions, and consequently, the CEO ability is subject to scrutiny by regulatory reviewers. However, theoretical literature provides mixed evidence on how the CEO ability affects the regulatory review risk. Thus, this study aims to empirically examine the effect of CEO ability on regulatory review risk.

To measure CEO ability, this study uses the CEO ability-score developed by Demerjian et al. (2012). Further, to measure regulatory review risk, the study uses the probability of receiving a comment letter from the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran.

This study finds that the relationship between CEO ability and regulatory review risk is generally negative and statistically significant but not economically significant, i.e. the relationship is very small. In this regard, the study shows that the relationship is negative and also statistically and economically significant for firms with low levels of agency conflicts and high levels of corporate governance quality; and is positive and also statistically and economically significant for firms with high levels of agency conflicts and low levels of corporate governance quality. In addition, while the study finds no evidence that the regulatory reviewers’ workload compression influences the general relationship between CEO ability and regulatory review risk, it documents that low (high) regulatory reviewers’ workload compression weakens (strengthens) both the relationships stated above.

Collectively, the results suggest that the agency conflicts/corporate governance quality and regulatory reviewers’ workload compression are important factors in the analysis of the relationship between the CEO ability and regulatory review risk. The results offer insights into the opposing theoretical viewpoints about the relationship between CEO ability and regulatory review risk. Thus, the results will be of interest to boards of directors and other stakeholders involved in the regulatory review process.

This study investigates the association between managerial ability and earnings quality in firms listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange and how the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) influences the association.

This study uses a sample of firms listed on the Iraq Stock Exchange over the period 2012–2018. Managerial ability is quantified using data envelopment analysis, and earnings quality is measured by earnings restatement, earnings persistence, accruals quality and earnings response coefficient. Panel regression analysis is used to examine the research hypotheses.

The findings indicate that managerial ability positively affects earnings quality of Iraqi firms and that ISIS weakens the relationship between managerial ability and earnings quality. These findings are robust to the alternative measures of managerial ability, as well as to various approaches used to address endogeneity including propensity-score matching and a difference-in-differences analysis.

This study provides insight into the impact of managerial ability on earnings quality in an under-studied emerging market. Furthermore, this study broadens the existing literature about the financial consequences of a modern terrorist group, ISIS.

Prior studies provide mixed evidence on the association of board busyness and firm productivity. Thus, this paper empirically analyzes how board busyness affects firm productivity.

To measure board busyness, this paper computes the percentage of directors on a board who sit on three or more boards. Furthermore, to calculate firm productivity, the paper employs data envelopment analysis.

Findings demonstrate that the association of board busyness and firm productivity (association) is generally negative and statistically significant but economically insignificant. In this respect, the findings reveal that the association is negative (positive) and both statistically and economically significant for firms having higher monitoring (advising) needs. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that regulatory oversight (1) weakens the general negative association; (2) changes the direction of association from negative to positive, for firms having higher monitoring needs; and (3) does not influence the association, for firms having higher advising needs.

Taken together, the findings indicate that the association of board busyness and firm productivity is conditional to monitoring/advising needs and regulatory oversight. As such, the findings enrich the current debates on the association. Furthermore, the findings offer novel perspectives to enrich the regulatory frameworks of countries which are constraining multiple directorships.

The regulatory review process imposes significant costs on companies. Therefore, managers try to find ways to avoid the regulatory review risk. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether corporate reporting readability reduces the regulatory review risk.

This study measures the corporate reporting readability using the Fog Index. It measures the regulatory review risk using the probability of receiving a comment letter from the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran.

The findings reveal that corporate reporting readability reduces the regulatory review risk, after controlling for the factors that affect the regulatory review risk.

The current paper identifies an easy strategy for managers to mitigate one of the important risks faced by companies. Thus, the results will be of interest to managers, audit committees, and stakeholders involved in the regulatory review process.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the moderating role of knowledge management (KM) strategies in developing the effect of intellectual capital (IC) on innovation for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, the current study explores how different interactions between IC and KM strategies lead to more powerful innovation in SMEs.

This study analyzes survey responses from 170 owners/managers of SMEs in Iran. The study uses partial least square structural equation modeling methods within Smart PLS software.

This study reveals that first IC has an excellent level of engagement with both incremental and radical types of innovation, but its engagement level with radical innovation is higher than that for incremental innovation. Second, the human capital component of IC has a direct positive impact on radical innovation although it has no significant impact on incremental innovation. Third, the personalization strategy of KM positively moderates the impact of human capital on both incremental and radical innovation.

This paper is an empirical attempt in SMEs to combine IC and KM strategies to strengthen innovation. It presents research community for SMEs of a developing country that has been investigated in a limited way compared to large firms of developed nations and provides valuable insights into further research.

In recent decades, managerial desire to use internal audit services to promote well-controlled organizational processes has significantly increased in the public sector. Yet, there is rare information on how internal audits may effectively be implemented in the public sector. The present research aims to design a comprehensive internal audit effectiveness model for the public sector.

This research is an applied mixed-methods (qualitative–quantitative) and descriptive survey study. The research population in both qualitative and quantitative sections included all internal and external audit managers and staff of Iraqi public organizations. The study sample of the qualitative section included 28 audit managers and staff selected using purposive sampling, and the study sample of the quantitative section included 399 individuals selected using convenience sampling. The data collection instruments in the qualitative and quantitative sections included semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, respectively. Data analysis was carried out using thematic analysis in Atlas.ti software in the qualitative section. Quantitative analysis and model validation were also performed using path analysis and structural equation modeling in Smart-PLS software in the quantitative section.

The results of the qualitative section led to the identification of 38 effectiveness factors among seven main categories, which were finally presented in the form of a comprehensive model. The main categories included the communication between internal and external auditors, granting independence and authority to internal auditors, providing specialized human resources, providing technological resources, developing management support, strengthening organizational culture and developing audit plans. In the qualitative section, the model was validated and confirmed. Quantitative results further showed that the compilation of audit plans and the development of management support were the most important factors.

The present study contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive framework on internal audit with an emphasis on resource-based theory and reducing the research gap in the field of agents influencing internal audit efficacy in the public sector of developing countries. Further, the study provides insights into an under-studied developing country, Iraq.

This paper aims to examine how leadership style in audit firms influences audit quality. The paper further explores the mediating role of knowledge sharing in the relationship between leadership style and audit quality.

The present paper studies the effects of transformational and servant leadership styles on audit quality through knowledge sharing. Data are collected from 396 Iranian external auditors via a questionnaire.

The results show that both transformational and servant leadership style significantly influence audit quality through knowledge sharing. Moreover, the impact of transformational leadership style is stronger than the impact of servant leadership style.

In audit quality literature, little attention has been devoted to both leadership style and knowledge sharing. This paper develops a parsimonious model which shows how leadership style improves audit quality, and how knowledge sharing strengthens the impact of leadership style on audit quality. The results have important implications particularly for audit industry.

本文探討審計公司內的領導風格會如何影響審計質量; 本文亦進一步探索、在領導風格與審計質量的關聯上、知識共享所扮演的調節角色。

本文旨在研究透過知識共享、轉型領導風格和僕人式領導風格會如何影響審計質量。數據取自396名伊朗外聘審計員，方法是透過一份調查問卷而進行的。

研究結果顯示、轉型領導風格和僕人式領導風格兩者均會透過知識共享、影響著審計質量，而且，這影響是頗為顯著的。就影響的程度而言，轉型領導風格的影響則較僕人式領導風格的更為強烈。

在研究審計質量的文獻裡，學者對領導風格和知識共享這兩個課題均沒多大關注。本文建立了一個簡約模型，去顯示領導風格如何能改善審計質量，以及知識共享如何能增強領導風格對審計質量的影響。研究結果給予我們重要的啟示，尤對審計行業而言。

Climate change has led to a rise in the frequency, intensity and scope of droughts, posing significant implications for businesses. This study examines the impact of local community drought levels on audit pricing. Additionally, it explores the moderating effects of high-tech industries, auditor busyness and the level of local community concern regarding the drought crisis.

This study employs a mixed-methods approach to rigorously test the research hypotheses. The quantitative phase of the study utilizes a sample of 1,278 firm-year observations from Iran’s capital market. For the analysis of the quantitative data, ordinary least squares regression with clustered robust standard errors is used. Additionally, this research supplements its quantitative findings with qualitative evidence obtained through semi-structured interviews with 19 Iranian audit partners.

The results suggest that firms operating in provinces facing severe droughts experience notably higher audit fees. Furthermore, the positive relationship between drought and audit fees is weakened when auditors are busy, local community concern regarding the drought crisis is high or the firm operates within high-tech industries. These findings are supported by a range of robustness checks and qualitative evidence gathered from the field.

This research contributes to the growing literature on climate change by examining the influence of local community drought levels on audit pricing within an Iranian context. Additionally, our study sheds light on how high-tech industries, auditor workload and the level of local community concern regarding the drought crisis moderate the relationship between drought and audit fees. Importantly, our study pioneers in providing mixed-methods evidence of the association between drought severity and audit fees.

While existing research explores the impact of audit market competition on audit fees and audit quality, there is limited investigation into how competition in the audit market influences auditors' writing style. This study examines the relationship between audit market competition and the readability of audit reports in Iran, where competition is particularly intense, especially among private audit firms.

The sample comprises 1,050 firm-year observations in Iran from 2012 to 2018. Readability measures, including the Fog index, Flesch-Reading-Ease (FRE) and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), are employed to assess the readability of auditors' reports. The Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) is utilized to measure audit market competition, with lower index values indicating higher auditor competition. The concentration measure is multiplied by −1 to obtain the competition measure (AudComp). Alternative readability measures, such as the Flesch–Kincaid (FK) and Automated Readability Index (ARI) are used in additional robustness tests. Data on textual features of audit reports, auditor characteristics and other control variables are manually collected from annual reports of firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).

The regression analysis results indicate a significant and positive association between audit market competition and audit report readability. Furthermore, a stronger positive and significant association is observed among private audit firms, where competition is more intense compared to state audit firms. These findings remain robust when using alternative readability measures and other sensitivity checks. Additional analysis reveals that the positive effect of competition on audit report readability is more pronounced in situations where the auditor remains unchanged and the audit market size is small.

This paper expands the existing literature by examining the impact of audit market competition on audit report readability. It focuses on a unique audit market (Iran), where competition among audit firms is more intense than in developed countries due to the liberalization of the Iranian audit market in 2001 and the establishment of numerous private audit firms.