The Relationship between Characteristics of Corporate Governance, Earnings Management and Tax Management in Tehran Stock Exchange

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Retired Professor of Accounting, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, and Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Isfahan, Iran

2 M.A. in Accounting, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

If a manager can reduce the effective tax rate in the long run and pay lower taxes, this implies tax management. The better this is handeled, the better the company's management, because it leads to an increase in net profit after tax. On the other hand, these accruals enable  the managers to abuse the flexibility of the practices and accounting principles and distort the information content of earnings. Corporate governance reduces the occurrence of earnings management, and possibly improves investors' understanding of the companies' performance validity. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between characteristics of corporate governance, earnings management and tax management in companies listed on the stock exchange securities in Tehran. Hypothesis testing was performed using multivariate regression and panel data for the period from 2008 to 2014 and 160 companies among the companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange were selected as the sample using systematic elimination method. The results showed that the characteristics of corporate governance reduce earnings and tax management. These results are consistent with agency theory and indicate the ability of these surveillance tools to reduce the earnings management of the companies.

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