Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• vahid oskou ¹
• majid moradi ²
• mohammad norouzi ³
• sharzad seraj ⁴

¹ Assistant Professor, Faculty of Administrative and Economic Sciences, Gonbad Kavous University, Gonbad Kavous, Iran

² Department of Accounting, Faculty of Management, University of Naser Khosro, Saveh, Iran.

³ Department of Accounting, Faculty of Administrative and Economic Sciences, University of Gonbad Kavous, Gonbad Kavous, Iran

⁴ Department of Accounting, Islamic Azad University, Firuzkoh Branch, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

According to the theory of gender socialization, men and women, subject to different moral developments, express different values. Gender diversity reflects differences in the moral and personality traits of men and women, and people's actions reflect their inner thoughts and feelings. Therefore, the presence of women in the composition of the audit committee and the board of directors causes the effectiveness of the organization and reduces the costs of corporate representation, and this reduces financial irregularities in companies through the opportunistic behavior of managers.The development of the capital market and the rules established by the Tehran Stock Exchange Organization in line with the regulatory environment in accepted companies have increased the level of management in companies. However, due to information asymmetry between shareholders and managers, accounting irregularities also exist.However, according to the fuzzy management theory, when the firm's performance is poor, managers tend to provide information in a vague and complex manner because the market may react to the information disclosed in a complex manner with a delay.This means that managers publish explanatory reports as a form of purposeful, deliberate and conscious perception management, in order to manipulate and deviate the perception of investors, which causes irregularities in accounting. In this regard, according to a statement, the American Securities Exchange Commission announced that 55% of companies use inappropriate approaches to recognize profits. Therefore, in the present study, the effect of women's presence on the board of directors and the audit committee on accounting irregularities was investigated. Using the elimination sampling method and applying the sample selection conditions, a sample consisting of 167 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2013 to 2020 was selected and tested using a multivariate regression model based on panel data technique. Findings indicate that the presence of women in the audit committee and board of directors reduces financial irregularities in companies.During recent years, the corporate governance environment of listed companies has improved significantly. However, information asymmetry between investors and managers still exists. In such a situation, corporate governance mechanisms reduce the cost of representation in the company. Therefore, a set of corporate governance factors such as the audit committee can be effective in reducing representation problems and improving the company's performance. In this regard, the audit committee can replace many of the company's shortcomings that cause agency problems; These defects may include the opportunistic behavior of the management, reducing the independence of the independent auditor, and the inefficiency of the internal control systems, which play a very important role in curbing the company's financial irregularities. Also, during the recent years, the presence of women in the management fields of the company, especially in the board of directors and the audit committee, has grown considerably. According to the first hypothesis of the research, the presence of women in the audit committee reduces the financial uncertainty of the company. The obtained result can be argued that the presence of women in the audit committee is a suitable way to improve reporting and increase the reliability of financial statements for users. Better monitoring of managers' reporting, which is made possible by the presence of female representatives in the audit committee, can increase performance and thus reduce agency costs and increase financial health and thus reduce financial irregularities in the company. The result obtained is in line with the research of According to gender theory, women have a significant contribution to economic success, which includes valuable work and contributes to the well-being and comfort of humans. Also, according to feminist economic theory, women are more inclined to make moral judgments. Female managers have different decision-making styles and different perspectives. They can also enhance the depth of board discussions by challenging traditional practices and policies. Therefore, women can present different points of view in the board of directors and make more informed decisions and lead to increased transparency. According to the second hypothesis, the presence of women in the board of directors reduces financial irregularities in companies. The obtained result can be argued that the presence of women in the board of directors is considered a factor to prevent opportunistic behavior, because women in the board of directors reduce their personal motivations due to more monitoring of managers' behavior and as a result, this reduces financial irregularities.

Keywords

• The presence of women in the audit committee
• accounting irregularities
• women in the board of directors

Main Subjects

• Accounting