Purpose The structure of corporate governance, as one of the important elements to be considered based on the different characteristics than other companies, such as women, expertise, tenure and management is different. But two measures for the presence of women in the board of directors and the size of director’s board are considered as corporate content characteristics that can affect corporate tax strategies in avoiding tax or taxes timely pay off. The purpose of this paper is to understand the demographic characteristics of the board of directors structure on the board and tax avoidance in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Design/methodology/approach Sample includes the 505 firm-year observations from companies listed on the TSE during the years 2012–2016 and research hypothesis was tested using multivariate regression model based on panel data. Findings The results indicate that female presence on the board of directors reduces the corporate tax avoidance. Additionally, firms with a larger size of board of directors are associated with more tax avoidance. Originality/value The current study is almost the first study which has been conducted in Iran, so the findings of the study not only extend the extant theoretical literature concerning the tax avoidance in developing countries including emerging capital market of Iran, but also help investors, capital market regulators and accounting standard setters to make informed decisions.

Purpose An important part of the effectiveness of a company is related to the stimuli of the organizational voice, which provides the context for participation and the emergence of moral courage in performing organizational tasks. Although individual voice stimulation cannot be easily generalized because of the wide range of criteria affecting it, but in a general category, individual voice stimuli can be separated into internal and external criteria. Therefore, this research first aims to examine internal and external stimuli on individual voice and then examines the effect of individual voice on internal auditors’ moral courage and effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach The target population in this study were internal auditors of capital market companies that were examined in the period of 2020. The research tool was a questionnaire and partial least squares analysis was used to fit the model and test the research hypotheses. Findings The results of testing the hypotheses show that self-efficacy (hope and resilience) as internal drivers and independence of internal audit performance and perceived supervisor support (external drivers) have a positive effect on moral courage and effectiveness of the internal auditor. Originality/value These conclusions suggest that if behavioral incentives are considered, auditors’ level of behavioral audacity in more realistically disclosing the financial performance of their companies can be expected to increase. It should also be noted that the results of this study can increase the level of effectiveness of internal auditors’ functions and their behavioral knowledge in the direction of professional functions.

Purpose The characteristic of managers’ personality is a key factor in their decision-making. One of the most important personality characteristic of managers is overconfidence. Overconfident managers have false trust about their abilities and have a positive view of the firm’s future performance. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the association between managerial overconfidence and internal control weaknesses (ICW) of the firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Design/methodology/approach Sample includes the 480 firm-year observations from companies listed on the TSE during the years 2013–2017, and the hypothesis is tested using multivariate regression model based on panel data analysis. Findings The authors found that managerial overconfidence increases the firms’ ICW. The findings are robust to alternative measure of managerial overconfidence, individual analysis of the research hypothesis for each year and endogeneity concern. Moreover, additional analysis reveals that the positive relationship between managerial overconfidence and ICW is less pronounced in larger firms. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the association between managerial overconfidence and ICW in emerging capital markets and, therefore, can contribute to extend the current literature on managerial overconfidence and ICW in developing countries, especially Iran’s emerging capital market.

Since the auditing profession is a process engaged in judgment activities, knowing the reasoning concepts to achieve a level of rationale in audit judgment is the theoretical and fundamental concept in this profession. In this regard, tactfulness is one of the decision-making components in an auditor's judgment that assigns a level of reasoning for making an intellectual decision and promotes the level of judgment quality in auditing. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is Auditors' Wise Tactfulness in Professional Judgments by Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM). The mixedmethods approach was used for the research in which, in the qualitative part, two experts population as panel members, and, in the quantitative part, 30 independent auditors as the statistical population participated. In the qualitative part, the meta-analysis approach was used to identify the themes related to wise tactfulness in professional judgment, and then, the basic themes selected were examined based on two criteria, concordance coefficient and average, in three rounds reciprocally until theoretical saturation was met. At this point, 14 themes were accepted among 20 basic themes. In the quantitative part, the themes accepted were coded first and then were distributed among the respective population, based on a matrix questionnaire, to identify the most 96

Purpose During the current century, environmental sustainability and waste reduction processes have always been subject to scrutiny in developed societies. Developed communities have gained considerable momentum by investing in environmental infrastructure and integrating corporate performance disclosure and less developed communities are involved with it. Carbon disclosure is one of the aspects of green accounting in “corporate strategies,” especially those operating across the capital market. Adherence to the disclosure of facts can facilitate sustainable development in societies. This study aims to present strategic reference points matrix-based model to develop a framework for carbon disclosure strategies through institutional and stakeholder pressures throughout the capital market. Design/methodology/approach As a case study, by reviewing similar research on carbon disclosure, this study seeks to illustrate various carbon disclosure aspects and strategies in a matrix based on institutional (vertical axis) and stakeholder (horizontal axis) pressures Findings The study attempts to states that carbon disclosure is affected solely by the company because of the presence of agency gaps between external stakeholders and corporate executives. Originality/value However, the firm’s decision to adopt a carbon disclosure strategy depends on the performance of stakeholder pressure (stakeholder salience level) and managers’ perceptions of institutional pressure (institutional pressure centrality level).