The Impact of Joint Audit Engagement on Corporate Cost Stickiness: The Moderating Role of Environmental Uncertainty and Board Independence
Keywords:
Cost Stickiness, Joint Audit, Environmental Uncertainty, Board Independence, Corporate Governance, Agency TheoryAbstract
The objective of this research is to investigate the impact of joint audit engagement on corporate cost stickiness, with an emphasis on the moderating roles of environmental uncertainty and board independence in firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. To test the research hypotheses, financial data pertaining to the primary variables were collected for the period from (2013–2025) for a sample of 246 firms, selected through the systematic elimination sampling method and extracted from the Rahavard Novin software. To examine the proposed hypotheses, the study utilized a panel data regression model with a Generalized Least Squares (GLS) approach employing fixed effects. The empirical findings indicate that while the phenomenon of cost stickiness exists within the statistical sample, the use of a joint auditor does not inherently reduce or exacerbate cost stickiness; rather, its effect is contingent upon the quality of corporate governance and the degree of environmental uncertainty. The final results of the study demonstrate that the interactive role of both environmental uncertainty and board independence in this relationship is statistically significant.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Vahid Raboobi (Author); Hamidreza Bazazzadeh Torbati; Mohammad Karimi (Author)
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