A Study of the Impact of Accounting Information Quality and Information Asymmetry on Underinvestment in Iran

Purpose - The main purpose of the current study is to examine the impact of accounting information quality and information asymmetry on the underinvestment phenomenon among the listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Research design, data, and methodology - The population includes 94 firms selected through systematic sampling. The data is collected from the audited financial statements of the firms provided by TSE's website from 2010 to 2015. Accounting information quality and information asymmetry is considered as independent variables, and their impact is examined on the dependent variable (underinvestment). Results - The statistical results, based on data collected from 94 listed companies on the TSE during 2010-2015, revealed positive impact of accounting information quality and positive impact of information asymmetry on underinvestment. There was a significant relationship between accrual quality (AQ) and underinvestment, and spread and underinvestment. The results also showed that information asymmetry is the main factor in the creation underinvestment. Conclusions - Findings of this article can assist accounting researchers and theoreticians in comparing Real world facts with hypotheses developed with respect to accounting information quality, information asymmetry and underinvestment. However, the results of fuzzy regression analysis indicate significant relationships between the independent variable except underinvestment.