This paper presents a study to measure the effects of return on investment, sales growth rate, volatility investment, cash flow and structure of institutional shareholders on the ratio of debt to equities. The study selects 102 firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange and, using regression technique with Panel data, examines five different hypotheses over the period 2008-2012. The results indicate that there was a negative and meaningful relationship between return of investment and the ratio of debt to equities and a positive and meaningful relationship between sales growth and the ratio of debt to equities. Moreover, there were positive and meaningful relationships between volatility of investment as well as cash flow and the ratio of debt to equities. Finally, the survey has indicated that there was a negative and meaningful relationship between the structure of institutional shareholders and the ratio of debt to equities.

Liquidity of the stock exchanges plays essential role on investment decisions and it is one of the factors that may influence on stock price. The easier one can buy/sell shares of a firm, the higher liquidity the firm has. In fact, lack of liquidity may lead investors to sell their assets at cheaper prices and it could influence negatively on overall market. The primary objective of this paper is to study the effect of stock liquidity on the risk of falling stock prices. The study chooses historical information of 70 selected firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2006-2012. The results of this survey have indicated that there was a negative and meaningful relationship between stock liquidity and stock price decline.

The aim of this study is to learn the effects of the value at risk (VaR) and the index of 30 largest companies (TEFIX 30) on the index of 30 large firms’ prices listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). This research study is based on analysis of libraries and analytical panel data and proposes a regression function where the index of 30 large companies’ prices is a linear function of VaR and TEFIX 30. The study collects the information of 90 publicly traded TSE firms over the period 2011-2013. The results have indicated that while the index of 30 large companies’ prices had a meaningful relationship with VaR but it had no meaningful relationship with TEFIX 30.

Measuring the relative efficiency in insurance industry plays essential role for productivity improvement in insurance industry. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to measure the relative efficiency of some insurance firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange using data envelopment analysis (DEA) over the period 2011-2013. The proposed study of this paper uses four inputs namely; total assets, price to earnings ratio, beta and sigma and four outputs namely; net earnings, one-year, two-year and three-year returns. The study uses two methods of input and output oriented DEA to measures the relative efficiencies of 9 banks and the results indicate that most insurance firms perform well in terms of efficiency.

The aim of the present research is to study the relationship between intellect capital components and performance evaluation indicators. For measuring intellectual capital, the study uses Pulic’s method [Pulic, A. (2000). VAIC™–an accounting tool for IC management. International Journal of Technology Management, 20(5-8), 702-714.], which consists of three components of physical capital efficiency, human capital efficiency and structural capital efficiency. In the present study first, the value of the intellectual capital of the companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2006-2012 is calculated. Next, the relationship between the components of intellectual capital and financial return of the companies are evaluated. For calculating the financial performance 8 performance indicators in 5 groups presenting market value, profitability, activity, capital return, orientation on value creation are used. In the present research the statistical method used for data analysis is multiple regression and correlation coefficients. The selected sample of research includes 73 companies in continuous way for a time period of 7 years and the size of the company has been considered as a control variable. The findings indicate a positive and significant relationship between intellectual capital and financial performance of companies and a positive effect of the size of company on availability rate of intellectual capital and financial performance of a company.

This paper presents a study on the effects of professional ethics and commitments on audit quality. The population of this survey includes all audit managers who were active in auditing official statements of different firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange in 2014. The study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among 152 randomly selected managers. In our survey, professional ethics consists of four items including confidentiality and impartiality, professional competence, accountability and individual values while organizational commitment consists of three items including emotional commitment, continues commitment and fundamental commitment. Using Pearson correlation as well as regression models, the study has determined a positive and meaningful relationship between professional ethics as well as commitment and audit quality.

Efficiency plays essential role for improving the performance of banking industry. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to study the effect of efficiency on abnormal return. The proposed study collects the necessary information from official statements as well as historical data over the period 2009-2013 reported on Tehran Stock Exchange to examine the relationship between efficiency and abnormal return. Using regression analysis, the study has determined a meaningful, positive but weak relationship between abnormal return and efficiency. However, the study does not find any meaningful relationship between bank size and abnormal return.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to measure the effect of managerial ability on earning quality on selected firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2007-2013. The proposed study uses data envelopment analysis to measure the relative efficiency of selected firms where Sales is considered as output and Cost of goods (COGS), Selling, General and Administrative Expenses (SG & A), Net Property Plant and Equipment (PPE), Net operating Leases (OpsLease), Research & Development (R & D), Purchased Good will (Goodwill) and Other intangible assets (OtherIntan) are considered as inputs. Earning quality in this survey consists of three parts of quality of accruals, earnings and earnings forecast persistence. The results of our survey have indicated that managerial ability influences positively on earning quality.

One of the most important factors on attracting foreign investors to invest on Tehran Stock Exchange is to have transparent accounting rules and regulations. When there are some consistency between national accounting standards and international accounting standards, we may, at least, expect foreign investors to have better understanding on financial statements. In 2006, there were some changes on Iranian national accounting standards in an attempt to make them closer to international accounting standards. In this study, we select the information of 153 firms five years before and after this regulation and study the effect of convergence from national accounting standards to international accounting standards on foreign direct investment. Using some statistical tests, the study has determined that there was no meaningful relationship between foreign direct investment before and after change on accounting standards. In addition, there was no difference on the information quality before and after change on accounting standards. However, there was some meaningful relationship between the information quality and foreign direct investment.

This paper presents an empirical study to determine the effects of four different factors including human capital, innovation capital, communication capital and information technology (IT) capital on firms’ return. The study selects the information of 50 selected firms from Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2007-2013. Using regression analysis, the study has determined that there were some positive and meaning relationships between human capital, innovation capital, communication capital and information technology capital and firms’ return, however, each of these four factors had various effect. Other results indicate that IT capital had the greatest impact on future returns of companies and among intellectual capital components, communication capital had the highest impact on future earnings.