The Factors Determining the Transparency of Financial Information: Presentation of a mental model by cognitive mapping technique
Subject Areas : Financial AccountingAhmad Nategh Golestan 1 , Naser Zeinabi 2
1 - Department of Management , Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran.
2 - Department of Accounting, Ghaenat Branch , Islamic Azad University, Ghaenat , Iran
Keywords: Transparency of Financial Information, Cognitive Mapping, Structural Analysis,
Abstract :
The purpose of this study is to examine the factors affecting the transparency of financial information by the experts and their understanding of the factors influencing financial transparency. The research methodology is based on qualitative approach and has been done with cognitive mapping technique. The basis of this qualitative analysis is experience, knowledge and expertise of 15 experts and professors of the universities of Mashhad which is conducted with a semi-structured interview. Using structural analysis method, at first 44 factors were identified .In the screening stage, experts had the most consensus among the five factors. And in the last step, the experts compared these five factors in the binary matrix of interaction and from 0 to 3 were valued. Then the MIC_MAC software extracted the cognitive map and its graph and the results were analyzed. The result of this study showed that the company's characteristics, including size of company, ownership, board of directors, financial ratios, profitability, and audit quality of the company have the most impact on information transparency.
[1] Alavi, M., Fars News Economic Group, seven principles of transparent reporting in companies' financial information, 2012. (in Persian)
[2] Alavi Tabari, S. H., Abbas Tafarshi, Z., The effect of the corporate governance system on the disclosure of intellectual capital, Accounting and Auditing Quarterly, 2012; 17: 18-33. (in Persian)
[3] Alsaeed, K., The Association between Firm‐specific Characteristics and Disclosure: The Case\ of Saudi Arabia, Managerial Auditing Journal, 2006; 21(5): 476-496. doi: 10.1108/02686900610667256
[4] Asadpour, A., Faizi, M., Muzaffar, F., and Behzadfar, M., Typology of Models and Comparative Study of Methods for Recording Mental Images and Cognitive Maps of the Environment, Nazar Architecture and Urban Planning Research Center Quarterly Scientific Research,2014; 33(12): 22 -13. (in Persian)
[5] Atiase, R. K., Pre Disclosure Information, Firm Capitalization, and Security Price Behavior around Earnings Announcements, Journal of Accounting Research, 1985; 23(1): 21-36. doi: 10.2307/2490905
[6] Azar, A., Zarghami Fard, M., An Analysis of the Cognitive Mapping Method in Structuring Qualitative Data from Organizational Studies, Organizational Behavior Studies Quarterly, 2013; 3(1-2): 159-185. (in Persian)
[7] Bani Mahd, B., Mohseni Sharif, M., Survey of Factors Affecting the Ranking of Tehran Stock Exchange Companies in Quality and Speed of Publication, Management Accounting Journal, 2011, 3(7): 51-63. (in Persian)
[8] Barth, M. E., Konchitchki, Y., and Landsman, W. R., Cost of Capital and Earnings Transparency, Working paper, 2010, SSRN.com. Doi: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2013.01.004
[9] Botosan, C. A., Disclosure Level and the Cost of Capital, The Accounting Reviwe, 1997; 72(3): 323-349.
[10] Bruce, K., Behn., D, Devries, D., and Lin., J., The Determinants of Transparency in Nonprofit Organizations: An Exploratory Study, Advances in Accounting, Incorporating Advances in International Accounting, 2010; 26: 6-12.
[11] Bushman, R., Piotroski, J., and Smith, A., What Determines Corporate Transparency? Journal of Accounting Research, 2004; 42: 207-252.
[12] Bushman, R., Smith, A., Financial Accounting Information and Corporate Governance, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2001; 32(1-3), 237-333. doi: 10.1016/S0165-4101(01)00027-1
[13] Cheung, Yan. Leung, Ping Jiang, B., and Weiqiang Tan., A Transparency Disclosure Index Measuring Disclosures: Chinese Llisted Companies, Journal of Accounting Public Policy, 2010; 29: 259–280. doi: 10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2010.02.001
[14] Diamond, D.W., Verrocchia, R.E., Disclosure Liquidity, and the Cost Capital, The Journal of Finance, 1991, 46 (4): 1325-1360. doi: 10.2307/2328861
[15] Didar, H., Mansour Far, G., and Hiva, K., The effect of firm characteristics on the level of disclosure of firms admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Financial Accounting Studies, 2012; 9(32): 141-168. (in Persian)
[16] Eka, H., Khoirul, A., Meilda, W., Ermawati, Yuneita, A., Factors influencing financial statement disclosure: Empirical evidence from Indonesia, Investment Management and Financial Innovations, 2022; 19(2): 230-237. doi:10. 21511/imfi.19(2). 20
[17] Fama, E. F., and Jensen, M. C., Agency problems and residual claims. Journal of Law and Economics, 1983, 26(2), 327–349.
[18] Fan, J., and T. Wong., Do External Auditors Perform a Corporate Governance Role in Emerging Markets? Journal of Accounting Research, 2005, 43:35-72.
[19] Florini, Ann., Increasing Transparency in Government. Internatio Journal on World. 2002, Peace 19; 3: 3-37.
[20] Francis, J., LaFond, R., Olsson, P., and Schipper, K., Costs of Equity and Earnings Attributes, The Accounting Review, 2004; 79: 967-1010.
[21] Fu, H. J., Effects of Financial Information Transparency on Investor Behavior in Taiwan Stock Market, 2006, UMI Number: 3223496. Flor-Ida: Lynn University.
[22] Ghaemi, M. H., Alavi, S. M., The Relationship Between Accounting Information Transparency and Cash Balance, Quarterly Management Accounting Research, 2011; 5(12): 67-78. (in Persian)
[23] Glab, D.S., Zarowin, P., Corporate Discloure Policy and the Informativeness of Stock Price, Review of Accounting Studies, 2002; 7(1): 33-53.
[24] Gullo, V., Montalbano, P., Financial transparency and anomalous portfolio investment flows: A gravity analysis, Journal of International Money and Finance, 2022; 128: 102704. doi.102704
[25] Guo, J., Azizul Islam, M., Jain, A., and van Staden, C. J., Civil liberties and social and environmental information transparency: A global investigation of financial institutions, The British Accounting Review, 2022; 54(1):101018, ISSN 0890-8389, doi: 10.1016/j.bar.2021.101018
[26] Hajizadeh, E., Asghari, M., Statistical Methods and Analyzes for Research Methods in the Biological and Health Sciences, Academic Jihad, First Edition, 2012. (in Persian)
[27] Hemti, H., Jalili, A., The relationship between intellectual capital disclosure and ownership type and size of companies admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange, Knowledge of Accounting and Auditing, 2011; 2: 51-63. (in Persian)
[28] Heshi, A., Factors Affecting the Timeliness of Financial Reporting, Empirical Studies in Financial Accounting, 2007; 16: 91-126.
[29] Hien, N. T. T., Improving the financial reporting in Vietnam’s public sector [Hoan thiện bao cao tai chinh khu vực cong Việt Nam] (Doctoral Thesis), Ho Chi Minh University of Economics, Vietnam. 2015.
[30] Hsiu J. F., Effect of Financial Information Transparency on Investor Behavior in Taiwan Stock Market, ProQuest Database, 2006; 16(3): 6 -22.
[31] Iatridis, G., International Financial Reporting Standards and the quality of financial statement information. International Review of Financial Analysis, 2010; 19(3):193–204. doi:10.1016/j.irfa.2010.02.004
[32] Kamalian, A. R., Niknafs, A. A., Afsharizadeh, O., and Gholamali Pur. R., Explanation of the most important factors influencing the information disclosure rating of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange with a data mining approach, Stock Exchange Quarterly, 2009; 11: 125-144. (in Persian)
[33] Karmi, G., Hosseini, S. A., and Rizvani Fard. S., Survey on the relationship between the level of disclosure and the cost of equity in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, Stock Exchange Quarterly, 2012; 21: 47-71. (in Persian)
[34] Kashanipour, M., Rahmani, A., Parchini Parchin, S. M., The Relationship Between Discretionary Disclosure and Non-Executive Board Members, Accounting and Auditing Review Quarterly, 2010; 16(57): 85-100. (in Persian)
[35] Kenny, V., An Introuduction to the Personal Construct Psychology of George A. Kelly. Irish Journal of Psychotherapy, 1984; 3(1). doi: 1989-36478-001
[36] Khodamipour, A., Namazian, A., Investigating the Impact of Corporate Asset Revaluation on Asset Disclosure and Corporate Income Tax, Tax Journal, 2010; 17: 101-119. (in Persian)
[37] Kohler, Eric L., Kohler's Dictionary for Accountants, (5thed.) Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1983.
[38] Kurdestani, G., Rahimi, M., Survey of the determinants of the choice of the level of quality of financial information and its economic effects on the capital market, Financial Accounting Experimental Research Quarterly, 2012;1(1): 68-92. (in Persian)
[39] Lang, M., Lundholm, R., Voluntary Disclosure During Equity Offerings: Reducing Information Asymmetry or Hyping the Stock? Contemporary Accounting Research, 2000; 7(4): 623-63. doi: 10.1506/9N45-F0JX-AXVW-LBWJ
[40] Lang, M., Maffett, M., Transparency and Liquidity Uncertainty in Crisis Periods, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2011; 52: 101-125. doi: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2011.07.001
[41] Leftwich, R. W., Watts., R. L., and Zimmerman, J. L., Voluntary Corporate Disclosure: The Cace of Interim Reporting, Journal of Accounting Research, 1981; 19(Supplement): 50-70. doi: 10.2307/2490984
[42] Lin, Y., Huang, Y.F., Chang and Tseng, C. H., The Relationship between Information Transparency and Informativeness of Accounting Earnings, The Journal of Applied Business Resarch, 2007; 31: 3. doi:10.19030/jabr.v23i3.1388
[43] Lobo, G.J., Mahmoud, A. A., Relationship between differen-tial amounts of prior information and security return variability, Journal of Accounting Research, 1989; 27(1): 34-116. doi: 10.2307/2491210
[44] Madhani, LA., The influence of ethical reasoning on auditors’perceptions of management’s competence and integrity. Advances in Accounting, 2009, 11:1-29.
[45] Mahdavi, G., Ghasemi, M., The Effect of Social Structures of Legalism, Reassurance, Level of Education, Individualism, Gender, Field of Study and Professional Background on Financial Disclosure, Journal of Accounting Advances of Shiraz University, 2010, 1(1): 191-215. (in Persian)
[46] Mahmoudabadi, H., Najafi, Z., The role of information transparency in explaining the relationship between government policy support and the performance of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, Management Accounting Scientific Research Quarterly, 2012; 6 (18): 57-71. (in Persian)
[47] Malekian, E., Seyedabadi, M., Study of the Effect of Size and Financial Ratios on Full Financial Statement Disclosure, Master's Thesis, Mazandaran University. 2004, (in Persian)
[48] Mehr Azin, A., Masihabadi, A., and Dehnavi, M. A., Transparency of Financial Information and Content of Earnings Information, Journal of Accounting Knowledge, 2012; 3(8): 113-130. doi:10.22103/JAK.2012.6 (in Persian)
[49] Meshaikhi, B., Farhadi, S., The effect of company size on the relationnship between information quality and cost of equity of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, Journal of Management Accounting, 2012; 19: 101-115. (in Persian)
[50] Nassreddine, G., Determinants of Financial Information Disclosure: A Visualization Test by Cognitive Mapping Technique, Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science 21, 2016; 8–13. doi:10.1016/j.jefas.2016.03.002
[51] Nematullahi, A., Darabi, R., Saraf, F., and Nouri Fard, Y., Factors affecting the transparency of financial information in the insurance industry, Scientific Journal of Management Accounting, 2018;12: 42. (in Persian)
[52] Niko Maram, H., Badavar Nahandi, Y., Explaining and Presenting a Model for Determining and Evaluating the Factors Influencing the Choice of Financial Reporting Quality in Iran, Farasoi Manzanar Monthly, 1388; 2(8): 141-187. (in Persian)
[53] Nobakht, Z., Assessing Information Transparency at Tehran Stock Exchange, Master's Thesis, University of Tehran, 1383. (in Persian)
[54] Özesmi, U., Özesmi, S.L., Ecological Models Based on People´S Knowledge: A Multi Step Fuzzy Cognitive Approach, Ecological Modelling, 2004;176: 43-64. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2003.10.027
[55] Papageorgiou, E. I. Stylios, C. D., Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, In Handbook of Granular Computing (Eds W. Pedrycz, A. Skowron and V. Kreinovich), John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, UK. 2008, doi: 2020/04/FUZZY-COGNITIVE-MAPS
[56] Rabbani, T., Structural Analysis Method, A Tool for Identifying and Analyzing Variables Affecting the Future of Urban Issues, The First National Conference on Prospective Studies in Tehran, 2013; 267-265. (in Persian)
[57] Rahmani, A., Bashiri Manesh, N., A review of the literature on information disclosure in Iran, Accounting Research Quarterly, 2013; 4(3), 35-68. (in Persian)
[58] Rodhain, F., Tacit to Explicit: Transforming Knowledge Through Cognitive Mapping an Experiment, Proceedings of the 1999 ACM SIGCPR Conference on Computer Personnel Research, New Orleans, Louisiana. 1999; 51-56. doi: 10.1145/299513.299614
[59] Sajjadi, S. H., Zarnejad, M., and Jafari, A., Non-financial characteristics affecting the quality of financial information of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, Accounting and Auditing Quarterly, 2010; 16(57): 51-68. (in Persian)
[60] Salehi Haggi, N., Abdi, R., and Zeinali, M., Prioritize factors affecting the financial reporting supply chain, Journal of Accounting Knowledge, 2021; 12(4): 115-136. doi:10.22103/jak.2021.17005.3416 (in Persian)
[61] Scott, W. R., Translator, Parsaiyan, A., Theory of Financial Accounting, 2003; 2(1). doi: 10.1016/j.intacc.2010.12.004
[62] Sponholtz, C., The Information Content of Earning Announce-Ments in Denmark, the International Journal of Managerial Finance, 2008; 4(1). doi:10.2139/ssrn.554422
[63] Talibnia, G, E., Rostami, N., Survey on the relationship between tax ratios and disclosure of financial reports of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, the quarterly review of the Tax Research Journal, 2012; 21(18): 115-138. (in Persian)
[64] Titman, S., and Trueman, B., Information Quality and the Valuation of New Issues, Journal of Accountig and Economics, 1986; 5(2): 159-172. doi: 10.1016/0165-4101(86)90016-9
[65] Ulitsky, M., Dreizen, M., Serbian, O., Mashkin, A., and Sokolova, N., Study of Opportunities to Increase Financial Transparency of Railway Transport, Transportation Research Procedia, 2023; 68:70-80, ISSN 2352-1465, Doi: 10.1016/j.trpro.2023.02.009
[66] Wang, Y., Jun, G.U. and Chen, H., Auditing Quality and Accounting Information Transparency Evidence from Listed Companies in China., Accounting Research, 2007; 45: 261-289.
[67] Yazidnia, N., Maqsoudi, I., The Effect of Information Quality on the Relationship Between Conservatism and the Cost of Social Capital, Financial Accounting Empirical Research Quarterly, 2011; 4: 29-51. (in Persian)
[68] Yermack, D., Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of directors, Journal of Financial Economics, 1996; 40(2):185–211. doi: 10.1016/0304-405X(95)00844-5
[69] Yousefi Asl, F., Molanazari, M., and Soleimani Amiri. G., Explaining the Financial Reporting Transparency Model, Accounting Empirical Research, 2013; 4(14): 1-38. doi: 10.22051/JERA.2015.1892 (in Persian)