The present study’s main objective is to assess the impact of non-financial sustainability reporting (NFSR) on corporate reputation and the role of the CEO in the opportunistic behavior of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. In total, 178 firms were assessed for this paper during 2013–2020. In this study for calculating the NFSR, environmental sustainability reporting (ESR), social sustainability reporting (SSR), governance sustainability reporting (GSR) and ethical sustainability reporting (ETSR), Arianpoor and Salehi’s comprehensive and conceptual model has been used. In addition, the literature states that a CEO’s power can be classified as an opportunity for discretion and opportunistic behavior in CEOs that is in contrast with stakeholder demands. To this end, in this study, CEOs’ power has been used as an indicator for the CEO’s opportunistic behavior, and the CEO pay slice (CPS) index was used to calculate the CEO’s level of power. The results revealed that NFSR affects corporate reputation positively. In addition, ESR, SSR, ETSR and GSR positively affect corporate reputation. Moreover, the CEO’s power affects the relationship between NFSR/ESR/SSR/ETSR and corporate reputation. Because managers desire to engage in social and ethical activities, they try to hide the company’s errors and increase its reputation. The results revealed that the CEO’s power did not affect the relationship between GSR and corporate reputation. Since companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange are under intensive supervision, such as in governance, the impact of a CEO’s power and the interaction of a CEO’s power and GSR on company reputation in this study might, thus, not apply to these companies. It is crucial to investigate NFSR, corporate reputation and CEO power within Iran-specific conditions because of differences in emerging markets and developing countries such as Iran, which have diverse ownership structures, economic status, legal systems, government policies, and culture.

This study investigates the impact of investment efficiency on firm value with a moderating role of institutional ownership and board independence for companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The information from 177 companies in 2014–2021 was examined. Tobin’s Q is a common measure for firm value, and it is a market-based measure and provides a good tool of comparison. The results show that investment efficiency has an impact on firm value. In addition, institutional ownership and board independence moderate this impact. There is a gap between the impact of investment efficiency on firm value and the moderating role of institutional ownership and board independence. This gap creates an opportunity for carrying out in-depth research on those variables. Since the impact of investment efficiency on firm value emphasizing the role of institutional ownership and board independence has not been studied, the study’s findings can show the importance and necessity of this study and fill the gap in this field.

Purpose: The present study aims to assess the impact of narcissism, self-confidence and auditor's characteristics on audit report readability for companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange.Design/methodology/approach: The study’s statistical population comprises firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The present research used a systematic elimination method, and 1,162 firm-year observations were obtained for seven years from 2012 to 2018. Three variables including auditor tenure, audit fee and audit specialization are used for measuring auditing features. The Fog index is used as a proxy for measuring audit report readability. In addition, in this paper, four regressions, including fixed effects, random effects, pooled and T+1, are used to estimate reliable coefficients.Findings: The findings show a negative and significant relationship between auditor’s characteristics (tenure, fee and specialization) and audit report readability. Moreover, the variables of the auditor’s narcissism, self-confidence and mandatory auditor change have a positive and significant association with audit report readability. This study lends support to the theories of personality disorder and behavioral decision.Originality/value: Since narcissism and self-confidence are two characteristics that shape an individual’s character and personality, some involved behavioral factors in auditors’ characteristics contribute to their decisions. The effects of these should be detected to enhance the decision-making process. The said factors significantly impact audit report readability. Hence, this paper attempts to assess the effect of the said factors on audit report readability.

Purpose: The present study investigated the impact of earnings volatility and environmental uncertainty on accounting comparability in an emerging economy and the moderating role of COVID-19 pandemic for the companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).Design/methodology/approach: The data about 181 companies during 2014–2021 were examined. In this study, accounting comparability was predicted for the firms' accounting systems and the coefficient estimates were calculated. The present study used the coefficient of variation of sales to capture sales volatility as the primary environmental uncertainty measure.Findings: The results showed that both the earnings volatility and environmental uncertainty have a significant negative effect on accounting comparability, and that COVID-19 significantly increases the negative impact of earnings volatility and environmental uncertainty on accounting comparability. The hypothesis testing based on robust, GLS, GMM, GLM, OLS regressions and t+1 test confirmed these results.Originality/value: The present study aimed to develop knowledge-providing benefits for companies about the accounting comparability and managing more efficient decisions. The present findings help investors to understand and evaluate the performance of firms more accurately especially in earnings volatility and environmental uncertainty conditions and in the wake of a pandemic crisis such as COVID-19.

Purpose: The present study investigates the impact of managerial psychological characteristics on the supply chain management efficiency (SCME) of companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange.Design/methodology/approach: To this aim, information about 215 companies was analyzed during 2014–2021. The sales per inventory ratio was used to calculate SCME. In the present study, the focus is on characteristics such as managerial entrenchment, managerial myopia, managerial overconfidence (MOC) and managerial narcissism, all considered as managerial attributes.Findings: The present findings showed that managerial myopia/managerial entrenchment (MOC/managerial narcissism) have a negative (positive) effect on SCME. Hypothesis testing based on robustness checks confirmed these results. Moreover, the findings are presented separately for companies with high business strategy (first quarter) and low business strategy (third quarter). The results show that at low levels of differentiation strategy, managerial entrenchment does not have a significant effect on SCME while other managerial attributes have a significant effect on both high and low business strategy.Originality/value: The present study contributes to the identification of managerial psychological characteristics influencing SCME to advance future studies and support practical efforts. The present findings can prove the significance of this research and fill the existing gap in research.