M.A. Thesis:

Family ownership, corporate governance and auditor celebrity

With regard to the decision-making role of independent auditor, it is likely that there will exist a supplementary or replacement relationship between the auditing quality and the selection of auditor celebrity institutions and some characteristics of internal corporate governance mechanisms. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the relationship between the family ownership, some characteristics of internal corporate governance and the election of auditor celebrity in the companies admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange. After examining all the stock exchange companies during 2012 -2015, a number of 39 companies were identified as family companies based on the default indicators. Separating these companies into to the same number of industries and from the same industries, other companies were selected through random sampling method and were categorized under non-family groups. In order to measure the celebrity two bases were regarded: A- Based on the ranking of the certified audit institutions and B- Based on the ranking of the quality control points of auditing institutions ( each case includes two states: zero and one state and ranking state) and the auditor celebrity institutions which are placed in the first category. To analyze the data and the hypothesis, a logistics regression pattern with combined (panel) data were used and the results from the hypothesis testing based on the ranking of the certified auditing institutions of the Stock Exchange suggested that there is a negative and significant correlation between the family ownership and the selection of auditor celebrity (first state) and the relations of the independent managers with election of celebrity auditor (second state) at the confince level of 90% but no significant correlation with election of auditor was observed between the dual role of the managing director and the board size. Furthermore, auditing institutions ranking base of the quality control points in favor of the hypotheses were supported by the findings.

Keywords: Auditor Celebrity Election, Family Ownership, Independence of the Board of Directors, Duality of Man