Accounting and Auditing Studies

Accounting and Auditing Studies

The Effect of CEO's Financial Distress on Audit Quality: Considering the Moderating Effect of Managerial Ability CEO's Financial Knowledge

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Professor, Department of Accounting, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
2 Ph.D. Department of Accounting, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
3 Associate Professor, Department of Accounting, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
10.22034/iaas.2025.230960
Abstract
The level of financial knowledge and ability of CEOs can play a vital role in the success, failure, improvement of performance, and reduction of challenges of economic enterprises. Therefore, it is expected that the educational and experiential characteristics of CEOs, such as university education, financial knowledge, experience, and their ability, can have an impact on reducing the financial crisis of listed companies. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of CEOs' financial knowledge on financial crises and also to examine the impact of their abilities on the relationship between CEOs' financial knowledge and financial crises. The statistical population of this study is the companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, and the statistical sample size includes 147 companies for the years 2011 to 2019, which were selected through systematic sampling. To test the research hypotheses, panel data and multivariate logistic regression were used. The results of the research showed that the financial knowledge of CEOs does not have a significant effect on the financial crisis. Another result of the research indicates that managerial ability has a negative and significant effect on financial crisis. Also, the managerial ability does not have a moderating effect on the relationship between financial knowledge of executive managers and financial crisis.
Keywords

  1. حسنی‌القار، مسعود و شعری‌آناقیز، صابر. (۱۳۹۶). “بررسی تأثیر توانایی مدیریت بر اجتناب مالیاتی”. مجله دانش حسابداری, دوره 1 (جلد 8)، تهران، صفحات 107–
  2. خواجوی، شکراله و قدیریان‌آرانی، محمدحسین. (۱۳۹۷). “نقش توانایی مدیریت در پیش‌بینی بحران مالی”. پژوهش‌های حسابداری مالی, دوره 4 (جلد 34)، تهران، صفحات 83–
  3. طاهری‌عابد، رضا؛ علی‌نژاد ساروکلائی، مهدی و فغانی ماکرانی، خسرو. (۱۳۹۷). “توانایی، دانش مالی مدیران عامل و شفافیت گزارشگری مالی”. مجله علمی-پژوهشی دانش حسابداری مالی, دوره 5 (جلد 2)، تهران، صفحات 85–
  4. کارشناسان، علی و ممشلی، رضا. (۱۳۹۷). “تأثیر توانایی مدیریت در کنترل بحران مالی درون‌سازمانی و احتمال گزارشگری متقلبانه”. فصلنامه علمی-پژوهشی دانش حسابداری و حسابرسی مدیریت, سال هفتم، شماره 72، تهران، صفحات 95–
5.        موسوی‌شیری و همکاران. (۱۴۰۲). “بررسی رابطه بین استراتژی‌های تجاری شرکت و توانایی مدیریت در دوره بحران مالی با کیفیت سود”. مطالعات حسابداری و حسابرسی، انجمن حسابداری ایران، شماره 45، تهران، صفحات 57–80.
  1. نکوئی‌زاده، شکوفه؛ دستگیر، محسن و علی‌احمدی، سعید. (۱۳۹۹). “تأثیر بحران اقتصادی بر ارتباط بین قدرت مدیرعامل با ارزش و عملکرد مالی؛ نقش ویژگی‌های گزارشگری مالی شرکت”. فصلنامه علمی مطالعات تجربی حسابداری مالی, دوره 17 (جلد 68)، تهران، صفحات 1–
  2. وقفی و همکاران. (۱۴۰۱). “تحلیل محتوای درماندگی مالی”. مطالعات حسابداری و حسابرسی, انجمن حسابداری ایران، شماره 41، تهران، صفحات 65–
  3. Alexandre, F., Cruz, S. & Portela, M. (2020). Financial distress and the role of management in micro and small-sized firms. SSRN Electronic Journal, 1–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3704119
  4. Andreou, P. C., Ehrlich, D. & Louca, C. (2013). Managerial ability and firm performance: Evidence from the global financial crisis. Durham Business School Working Paper (Department of Commerce, Finance and Shipping & Tel Aviv University, Faculty of Management), 1–40.
  5. Chen, J., De Cesari, A., Hill, P. & Özkan, N. (2018). Initial compensation contracts for new executives and financial distress risk: An empirical investigation of UK firms. Journal of Corporate Finance, 48, 292–313.
  6. Custódio, C. & Metzger, D. (2014). Financial expert CEOs: CEO’s work experience and firm’s financial policies. Journal of Financial Economics, 114(1), 125–154.
  7. Demerjian, P. R., Lev, B., Lewis, M. F. & McVay, S. E. (2013). Managerial ability and earnings quality. The Accounting Review, 88(2), 463–498.
  8. Gounopoulos, D. & Pham, H. (2018). Financial expert CEOs and earnings management around initial public offerings. International Journal of Accounting, 53(2), 102–117.
  9. Gounopoulos, D., Loukopoulos, G. & Loukopoulos, P. (2021). Do financial expert CEOs matter for newly public firms? SSRN Electronic Journal, 1–60. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3729572
  10. Gul, F. A., Khedmati, M., Lim, E. K. & Navissi, F. (2018). Managerial ability, financial distress, and audit fees. Accounting Horizons, 32(1), 29–51.
  11. Hambrick, C. D. & Mason, P. A. (1984). Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of Management Review, 9(2), 193–206.
  12. He, Y., Xu, L. & Yang, M. (2020). The impact of tunnelling on financial distress and resolution: Evidence from listed firms in China. International Journal of Finance & Economics, 26(2), 1773–1792.
  13. Hung, A. A., Parker, A. M. & Yoong, J. (2009). Defining and measuring financial literacy. SSRN Electronic Journal, 1–25. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1498674
  14. Kalelkar, R. & Khan, S. (2016). CEO financial background and audit pricing. Accounting Horizons, 30(3), 325–339.
  15. Kaur, R. (2021). Impact of financial distress, CEO power and compensation on environment, social and governance (ESG) performance: Evidence based on UK firms. Doctoral dissertation, De Montfort University, Department of Accounting and Finance, 1–225. https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/20883
  16. Long, J. C. (2021). Financial information asymmetry: Using deep learning algorithms to predict financial distress. Symmetry, 13(3), 443. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13030443
  17. Loukil, N. & Yousfi, O. (2023). Do CEOs’ attributes increase risk-taking? Empirical evidence from France. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, 15(5), 721–745.
  18. Matsunaga, S. R., Wang, S. & Yeung, P. Y. (2014). Does appointing a former CFO as CEO influence a firm’s accounting and disclosure policies? SSRN Electronic Journal, 1–49. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2206523
  19. Nugroho, M., Arif, D. & Halika, A. (2021). The effect of financial distress on stock returns, through systematic risk and profitability as mediator variables. Growing Science, 7(7), 1717–1724.
  20. Oradi, J., Asiaei, K. & Rezaee, Z. (2019). CEO financial background and internal control weaknesses. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 28(2), 119–140.
  21. Parmar, B. L., Freeman, E. R., Harrison, J. S., Wicks, A. C., Purnell, L. & Colle, S. D. (2010). Stakeholder theory. The Academy of Management Annals, 3(1), 403–445.
  22. Rabea, S., Zalailah, B. & Norsiah Ahmad, S. (2015). CEO characteristics and audit report timeliness: Do CEO tenure and financial expertise matter? Managerial Auditing Journal, 30(8/9), 1–33.
  23. Rafatnia, A. A., Ramakrishnan, S., Binti Abdullah, D. F., Nodeh, F. M. & Farajnezhad, M. (2020). Financial distress prediction across firms. Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques, 8(2), 646–651.
  24. Wan-Hussin, W. N. & Haji-Abdullah, N. M. (2009). Audit committee attributes, financial distress and the quality of financial reporting in Malaysia. SSRN Electronic Journal, 1–40. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1500134
  25. Yao, S. (2020). Who should be the next CEO? Desirable successor characteristics in recovery from financial distress. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade. https://doi.org/10.1080/1540496X.2020.1828857
  26. Ying, Q. & He, S. (2020). Is the CEOs’ financial and accounting education experience valuable? Evidence from the perspective of M&A performance. China Journal of Accounting Studies, 8(1), 35–65.