Title: Intellectual capital and earnings quality: a comprehensive investigation

Authors: Shokrollah Khajavi; Mohammad-Hossein Ghadirian-Arani; Hasan Fattahi-Nafchi

Addresses: Accounting Department, Shiraz University, P.O. Box 7194685111, Shiraz, Iran ' Accounting Department, Shiraz University, P.O. Box 7194685111, Shiraz, Iran ' Accounting Department, University of Isfahan, P.O. Box 8174673441, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship among intellectual capital (IC) and its components and earnings quality for non-financial companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Moreover, we examined the role of financial performance as a mediator effect on the impact of IC and its components on earnings quality. Our findings show that IC and its components have significant impact on earnings quality. Also, financial performance mediates the effect of IC and its components on earnings quality. Therefore, it is concluded that IC and its components affect earnings quality through improving financial performance. As the existing studies on the relationship between IC and earnings quality have not used comprehensive measure of earnings quality, and they did not consider the financial performance as a mediator factor, this study contributes to the literature by filling these gaps in the literature.

Keywords: intellectual capital; earnings quality; financial performance; Iran; VAIC; firm performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLIC.2016.079353

International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 2016 Vol.13 No.4, pp.316 - 337

Received: 26 Sep 2015
Accepted: 30 Dec 2015

Published online: 27 Sep 2016 *

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