External Financing and Earnings Quality: Moderating Role of Enterprise Risk Management

Accounting information plays a crucial role in the decision-making process of lenders. They pay special attention to the income statement and its quality when making decisions. Consequently, financial statements must meet the minimum required standards. Adopting a comprehensive risk management approach can enhance earnings quality, ensuring effective reporting and compliance with laws and regulations. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of external financing and the moderating role of risk management on earnings quality. The research hypotheses were analyzed and tested using a multivariate regression model with panel data. The study's statistical population consists of firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The findings demonstrate a positive and significant relationship between a firm's external financing and earnings quality. This suggests that risk management plays a moderating role in the relationship between external financing activity and earnings quality. External financing and risk management contribute to improving the quality of financial information. Investors can evaluate the reliability of a firm's accounting data based on the level of external financing and enterprise risk management components. Thus, these findings have implications for managers and regulators to enhance the quality of financial information and promote the use of a comprehensive risk management approach to build creditor trust.