Thesis:

Moderating role of financial leverage on the relationship between audit quality and shareholders’ earnings

One of the important issues that has recently attracted the attention of accounting research is shareholder returns, and this issue is considered one of the fundamental concepts in the field of finance. Shareholders' returns play an important role in financing decisions. Various factors affect shareholder returns. Among these factors, audit quality and the moderating role of financial leverage on this relationship can be mentioned. The main objective of this study is to examine the moderating role of financial leverage on the relationship between audit quality and shareholder returns in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. In order to investigate this issue, the research hypotheses were tested based on a statistical sample of 103 companies during the years 2019 to 2023 and using multivariate regression models. The research findings showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between audit quality and shareholder returns. Financial leverage also strengthens the relationship between profit quality and shareholder returns.

Keywords: Keywords: Capital structure, Financial Leverage, Audit Quality, Shareholders’ Earnings.