Managerial Ability

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of ownership structure and audit features on the financial distress likelihood by considering the moderating effect of managerial ability. This study utilized partial least squares structural equations modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis and data from 107 firms listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. Audit features measured by auditor size and audit opinion and ownership structure measured by the block-holder ownership and institutional ownership. Backward logit analysis was used to calculate the financial distress likelihood. DEA technique and Tobit regression were used to measure the managerial ability. The results of the study show that audit features have a positive effect on the likelihood of financial distress. Moreover, the effect of ownership structure on the financial distress likelihood and the moderating effect of manage-rial ability were not confirmed. This paper offers evidence on the extent to which distress is associated with corporate governance and managerial ability from a developing country. The paper should be of interest to the regulatory bodies and practitioners because in many developing countries the implementation of corporate governance mechanisms is voluntary and is not yet required.

Optimal cash is an amount of cash that balances benefits of cash holding; and the speed of cash holding adjustment is called the rate of actual cash response to the optimal cash. The question of how fast companies compensate for excess or inadequate cash to the optimum level in terms of how closely they hold cash flow and maximize company value has been an important topic of interest for academics and managers in recent years; and they have examined factors affecting the speed of cash holding adjustment. Since company managers play important roles in firm's key decisions such as cash holding, the present study investigated the impact of managerial ability as an important management feature on the speed of cash holding adjustment to an optimal cash flow and study as well as the moderating effect of political connection. To this end, data of on companies during 2013 to 2018 were analyzed using econometric software (Eviews), multivariate linear regression. Results of statistical tests indicated that the managerial ability decreased the speed of cash holding adjustment to an optimal level if the cash rate of a company is higher than its optimal level. Furthermore, In companies with political connections, the negative relationship between managerial ability and the speed of adjusting cash holdings towards the optimal level is higher than other companies.