Investment efficiency shows how well a company invests its assets. Although institutional shareholders play undeniable roles in companies, it is not clear whether they are able to monitor managers and make investment decisions or not. This study gives answers to stakeholders, addresses concerns about the effect of the owners on investment efficiency, and aims to add to the literature on emerging markets by investigating the relationship in Iran, a different environment from developed ones. Based on monitoring power, the shareholders are divided into two types: active and passive ones. Investment problems are classified into two types: over- and under-investment problems. The sample consists of 101 firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange between 2010 and 2016. Some regression models are used. The results illustrated that institutional owners have a positive effect on investment efficiency and decrease both over- and under-investment problems and so, the efficient monitoring school is approved. Additionally, active ones are positively correlated with investment efficiency and decrease both investment inefficiency problems. Institutional ownership is the cause of investment efficiency, not the reverse. Based on findings, in emerging markets like Iran’s market, investors are recommended to give notice to the level of active ownership in firms; ownership structure is a good sign of efficiency.

Purpose: Despite cultural dimensions being included in hundreds of business and management research studies, there have been relatively few studies in public-sector accounting that include the use of cultural dimensions. It is posited that national cultural variables impact the institutions, which, in turn, have an influence on public-sector budgeting. The study aims to contribute to the literature by examining these relations in 31 countries.Design/methodology/approach: These relationships are empirically evaluated by structural equation modeling using measures of national culture from Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) study and Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGIs) measures named institutions from the World Bank. Furthermore, measures of public-sector budgeting are evaluated in which public-sector budgeting is classified according to the legislative power of the purse and budget transparency.Findings: Generally, findings reveal that institutions mediate the relationship among national cultural variables and budgeting at the national level. By that means, budgeting in a given nation is linked to the nation's supporting institutions which, in turn, are influenced by the national culture of those who maintain them. Particularly, power distance and uncertainty avoidance impact budgeting through the full mediation of institutions.Research limitations/implications: The World Bank's database used for the institutions contained over 200 countries (Kaufmannet al., 2007); the GLOBE cultural database (Houseet al., 2004) contained data for 62 societies; the public-sector budgeting (Qi and Mensah, 2011) included power of the purse and budgeting transparency country scores for 49 countries and the datasets comprised 31 nations, mostly from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. While smaller than we would have preferred, the size is consistent with other international studies (for instance: Waldmanet al., 2006; Kwok and Tadesse, 2006).Practical implications: The findings of the paper suggest that any plan to improve a nation's budgeting should consider the links between budgeting, supporting institutions and the culture of those that run them. The formal adoption of new methods and standards by supporting institutions may not be enough without accompanying efforts to transform national culture.Originality/value: The theoretical contribution of the paper is discussed further in the paper.

We investigate whether the number and type (the nature and repetitiveness) of audit qualification paragraphs (AQPs) play a role in audit report lag (ARL). We use a unique dataset of listed firms in Iran where the multitude and diversity of AQPs are very high. The results show that ARL is longer for firms with a greater number of AQPs, that there is a significant positive relationship between all AQP types and ARL except for misclassification of accounting numbers in financial statements, and that ARL increases with the number of non-repetitive AQPs. We employed several sensitivity tests, and the results did not change materially. Drawing on prior studies, we have developed two arguments, ‘additional audit procedures’ and ‘auditor-client negotiations’, to explain the role of the number and type of AQPs on ARL. The findings of this study have significant implications for investors, auditors and authority bodies in terms of paying close attention to the number and type of AQPs in their decisions.