Financial Accounting
Mohamad Marfo; Mohammad javad Salimi; Iman Raeesi Vanani; Mojtaba Alifamian
Abstract
Purpose: The rapid development of technology and extensive environmental changes have accelerated economic growth, and the increasing competition among enterprises has restricted access to profit and increased the probability of enterprises ' financial distress. Due to the effects of high costs of financial ...
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Purpose: The rapid development of technology and extensive environmental changes have accelerated economic growth, and the increasing competition among enterprises has restricted access to profit and increased the probability of enterprises ' financial distress. Due to the effects of high costs of financial distress, its prediction has attracted the attention of researchers since the beginning. Therefore, this paper aims at a bibliometric analysis of financial distress research in the accounting, management and economic areas. Design/methodology/approach: The research method is based on a three-step protocol of dataset setting, dataset refining, and analyzing the data. First, the published articles in the financial distress field were collected from the Web of Science database. Second, the document information was refined, and 801 articles were chosen for literature review in this area. Finally, we used the bibliometric analysis toolbox to investigate the documents. Also, bibliometric analysis in this research was conducted using VOSviewer software. Findings: The findings of this research indicate the existence of six main streams of research (methods of predicting financial distress, predictors of financial distress, restructuring strategy, corporate governance, bank bankruptcy and earnings management) in the field of financial distress. Additionally, the results highlight the importance of social responsibility of the company, also demonstrate that improvements in technology, particularly the use of artificial intelligence tools, have enhanced predicting accuracy. IntroductionIn the life cycle of any company, while there are many opportunities for growth, prosperity, and success, there are also situations where the company may face decline, crisis, and failure. Theoretically, it is assumed that business companies operate indefinitely with the aim of making a profit.However, in the modern era of the global economy, companies not only become significantly more established but also face financial distress more frequently than in the past. In other words, due to globalization and the integration of national economies, the incidence of business failures and bankruptcies has risen. Financial failure is not an instantaneous event but a dynamic and generally lengthy process that affects the company's capital structure, investment policies, and performance. Therefore, identifying the factors of financial distress enables the prediction of an enterprise's financial distress.Identifying the factors influencing the financial distress of companies, firstly, enables the taking of appropriate actions by providing necessary warnings. Secondly, investors can distinguish favorable investment opportunities from unfavorable ones and invest their resources in situations and places where they are less likely to lose money.Given the importance and effects of financial distress and the high rate of failure of current businesses, a literature analysis in this area appears necessary. A review of the literature in the field of financial distress uncovers a multitude and variety of topics in past research. Thus, it is crucial to conduct a systematic review of past research to understand its intellectual structure. Moreover, the keywords used in past research represent the field’s main ideas and topics. Therefore, this study is going to draw the intellectual structure of financial distress research through quantitative techniques of co-word analysis, citation, co-citation, bibliometric, and co-authorship analysis. Research Question(s)This research, employing bibliometric analysis, reviewed the literature on financial distress in the fields of accounting, management, and economics. It also analyzed the content of articles in this field to answer the following questions:RQ1. What is the trend of publications in financial distress research?RQ2. What is the citation structure in the financial distress research?RQ3. What are the fundamental streams of financial distress research?RQ4. What are the emerging themes in the financial distress research? MethodologyThe research method is based on a three-step protocol: dataset setting, dataset refining, and analyzing the data. First, the published articles in the financial distress field were collected from the Web of Science database. Second, the document information was refined, and 801 articles were chosen for literature review in this area. Finally, we used the bibliometric analysis toolbox to investigate the documents. Additionally, bibliometric analysis in this research was conducted using VOSviewer software. ResultsOur findings indicate an increasing trend in the number of research studies on financial distress literature over the past six years, with approximately 54% of articles published during this period.We also document that "In Search of Distress Risk" is the most cited paper, receiving 881 citations in the Web of Science database; "Altman" is identified as the most influential author; and the USA emerges as the most influential country in this research field. This predominance can largely be attributed to the fact that most journals indexed in the Web of Science in the fields of accounting and finance are associated with the United States. Consequently, it is evident that the publication of articles by universities and researchers based in this country is more prevalent than in other countries worldwide. The findings of this research reveal the existence of six main streams of research: methods of predicting financial distress, predictors of financial distress, restructuring strategy, corporate governance, bank bankruptcy, and earnings management in the field of financial distress. Additionally, the results of the research not only underscore the importance of a company’s social responsibility but also highlight how technological advancements, particularly the use of artificial intelligence tools, have enhanced the accuracy of financial distress predictions. Discussion and ConclusionIn this study, first, the evolution of literature in this field has been reviewed through bibliometric analysis over the last four decades. Secondly, from a performance perspective, the indicators related to the article, citation indicators, and combined article and citation indicators have been examined. Additionally, scientific mapping of articles in this field has been conducted through citation analysis, co-citation analysis, co-authorship analysis, and co-word analysis. Finally, clustering and content analysis of the articles in this field have been performed.First, performance analysis was conducted to answer the first two research questions. The research findings confirm that during the last four decades, the literature on financial distress has significantly grown. Examining the growth trend of the articles’ number indicates the effect of changes in the business environment on financial distress. Thus, this trend shows an increase in the number of articles from 2010 onwards, the reason for which is attributed to the financial crisis of 2008, which caused many companies to face financial distress due to the impossibility of financing. Additionally, the trend of published articles shows a significant increase in articles during the period of COVID-19 and after (2020, 2022, 2023). The limitation caused by this public crisis (COVID-19) has increased the possibility of financial distress for companies, and many researchers have investigated this issue. Secondly, to examine the third question of the research, co-citation and bibliographic coupling analysis have been used. As indicated in the mentioned findings section, the studies conducted can be classified into three clusters: predicting financial distress, which is mainly based on accounting data criteria; a cluster of default risk and systematic risk, which provides information about the prospects of the company and the volatility of assets; and finally, the cluster of restructuring strategies, which includes studies that seek to exit this cycle of financial distress using these strategies. The Bibliographic coupling analysis indicates that six main streams of research (financial distress prediction methods, financial distress prediction factors, restructuring strategy, corporate governance, bankruptcy of banks, and earnings management) exist in the financial distress field.Thirdly, the co-word analysis was conducted to answer the fourth question of the research. The increase in the frequency of the words ‘machine learning’ and ‘social responsibility of the company’ in recent years indicates the development of advanced techniques and models in data mining. This development has become so widespread that a large number of research papers are published every year in many fields, including finance, using techniques and algorithms of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Additionally, regarding social responsibility, this trend suggests the primary purpose of enterprises has shifted from profit maximization to increasing shareholder wealth and protecting the interests of other stakeholders, including society and the environment. Therefore, it is expected that future studies will focus increasingly on social responsibility and sustainability.
Accounting and various aspects of finance
Mehdi Heidari; Alireza Aliakbarlou; Ebrahim Khakpour Heydaranlou
Abstract
Conservatism is an action that is used in conditions of uncertainty and limiting management optimistic behaviors to increase the reliability of financial statements. Financial distress and growth opportunities are among the factors that can improve the level of accounting conservatism. Meanwhile, managers' ...
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Conservatism is an action that is used in conditions of uncertainty and limiting management optimistic behaviors to increase the reliability of financial statements. Financial distress and growth opportunities are among the factors that can improve the level of accounting conservatism. Meanwhile, managers' behavioral characteristics are expected to influence the relationship between financial distress and growth opportunities with accounting conservatism. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of management uncertainty on the relationship between financial distress, growth opportunities and accounting conservatism. The results of this study show, the variables of financial distress and growth opportunities have a positive and significant effect on conservatism. Management overconfidence has no significant effect on the relationship between financial distress and conservatism but it moderates the relationship between growth opportunities and conservatism and has a negative and significant effect on the relationship between them. In other words, that managers with unfavorable financial situation do not have a positive outlook on the future situation of the company and increase the level of conservatism. Managers of large and growing companies also tend to opt for more conservative accounting practices to minimize their political and social costs. On the other hand, overconfident managers are optimistic about the future state of the company and reduce the level of accounting conservatism.
Zohreh Arefmanesh; Mohammad-Hossein Ghadirian-Arani; Zohreh Ghadirian Arani
Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to investigation the relationship between financial distress and restatement of financial statement for listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Consequently, in this study a sample of 107 nonfinancial listed companies on the TSE from 2010 to 2016 were investigated. ...
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The main purpose of this study is to investigation the relationship between financial distress and restatement of financial statement for listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Consequently, in this study a sample of 107 nonfinancial listed companies on the TSE from 2010 to 2016 were investigated. Emerging Market Scoring (EMS) model was used for determining the financial distress and bankruptcy risk. In conducting this study, two main hypotheses were proposed. Comparison of means tests (t-test) and multiple linear regression analysis on panel data were used to test these hypotheses. The research results showed that there is no significant difference between the magnitude of financial restatement in financially distressed and non-distressed companies. However, bankruptcy risk is positively related to magnitude of financial restatement. That is, the more the bankruptcy risk, the more magnitude of financial restatement.
darioush foroughi; Hadi Amiri; Seyed Mohammad Alsharef
Abstract
The purpose of the study is to investigate the influence of accruals on future assets’ returns and future stocks returns. Due to their estimating nature, accruals are less stable relative to cash flows; therefore, they are more influential on returns; however, financial distress may increase or ...
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The purpose of the study is to investigate the influence of accruals on future assets’ returns and future stocks returns. Due to their estimating nature, accruals are less stable relative to cash flows; therefore, they are more influential on returns; however, financial distress may increase or decrease the influence of accruals on future returns. The study sample includes 117 companies incorporated in Tehran Stock Exchange between 2006 and 2015. The findings of this study reveal that the influence of accruals on the future returns of assets in the companies suffering financial distress is less which is owing to more persistency of the accruals (much real estimations) in the companies struggling with financial distress. Furthermore, the influence of accruals on the future returns of the stocks in the companies suffering financial distress is less which is due to less abnormality of accruals (less mispricing) in companies suffering financial distress compared to companies with non-financial distress. Key words: Financial Distress, Abnormality of Accruals, Persistence Argument, Assets Returns, Stock Returns.
Pari Khodakarimi; Parviz Piri
Abstract
Today’s, bankruptcy and financial distress is one of the important factors for decision making process of market participants, so the need to predicting them with using a suitable model is the manifest of financial market analysts and investors because it have a significant effect on shareholders' ...
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Today’s, bankruptcy and financial distress is one of the important factors for decision making process of market participants, so the need to predicting them with using a suitable model is the manifest of financial market analysts and investors because it have a significant effect on shareholders' wealth in the market. With such importance, the aim of this paper is to introduce a suitable model for predicting financial distress at Tehran stock exchange listed companies.For achieving this goal, thirteen variables including eight accounting and five market variables were used to determine financial distress with applying Logistic regression method from 2008 to 2016. For testing research hypothesis, the dates of 928 firm-year (522 distressed and 406 sound firm -year) was gathered listed in Tehran Stock Exchange (1040 firm-year).The results showed that a combination of accounting and market dates can predict distress in firms and can be a ground for further studies on financial distress.
