PurposeThe purpose of this present study is to assess the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on fraud in listed firms' financial statements on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). In other words, this paper seeks to figure out whether IC and its components, namely, the efficiency of human capital (HC), structural capital (SC), relational capital (RC) and customer capital (CC).Design/methodology/approachThe logistic regression model is used for analyzing the material of this study. Research hypotheses are also examined using a sample of 187 listed firms on the TSE during 2011–2018 by employing the logistic regression pattern based on synthetic data technique. Moreover, some robustness checks are also used to ensure the correctness of the obtained results.FindingsThe findings show a negative and significant relationship between IC and its components, including the efficiency of HC, SC, RC and CC, and fraud in financial statements. This means that by investing in the IC and its components, the amount of fraud in business firms' financial statements decreases.Originality/valueSince few studies are carried out by existing literature, this paper is among the pioneer efforts assessing IC's potential impact on fraud commitment. The findings apply to policymakers to improve the clarity of the business atmosphere of Iran.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of financial distress costs, corporate growth rate, and flexibility on the interaction between ownership structure and corporate debt policy. Design/methodology/approach The authors test the hypotheses by employing simultaneous equations system methodology with two-stage least squares regression and panel data technics on a sample of 786 listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange during 2010-2015. Findings The results indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between corporate debt level and managerial ownership in the Iranian listed companies. The authors also find no convincing evidence that either the firm’s growth or financial health could influence or moderate this interrelationship. Research limitations/implications The implications drawn from this study are constrained by two primary limitations. First, the present study is conducted in an Iranian setting; therefore, the data utilized for the study only contain companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The utilization of listed companies on the Tehran Stock exchange is likely to affect the generalizability of the study in a national context. Second, the authors were unable to extend the sample time period due to some major deficiencies in the Tehran Stock Exchange library and its supplementary software. Social implications Since the fundamental institutional assumptions underpinning the western and even East Asia capital structure models are not valid in the institutional environment of Iran, the findings could provide substantial implications for our understanding of capital structures as well as debt policy literature. Originality/value This is an innovative research in terms of the mutual relationship between debt and ownership structure and the use of equations system to measure the interaction between them.