The Information content of Financial Statements in the Strengthening of Economic Sanctions Imposition on Iran

Abstract

Economic and political structures in the capital market pressures can affect managers, auditors and investors behavior in the face of the financial reporting. One of the best examples of political and macroeconomic actions in recent years is the economic sanctions against Iran. Companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange also inevitably have been influenced by the pressures of economic sanctions against Iran. The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of economic sanctions on the Information content of financial statements. The data has been analyzed using a sample of 165 listed firms in the Tehran Stock Exchange during from 2001 to 2014 and panel data regression models. The results show that the information content of financial statements reduced in the period of economic sanctions. Also, reduction in the financial information content of loss-making companies and firms with high earnings management during the period of intensifying economic sanctions has been more than reduction in other companies.

Keywords

• Earnings Management
• Firm with losses
• Information content of financial statements
• Political Economy Theory
• Strengthening of Economic Sanctions