Measuring the relative efficiency in insurance industry plays essential role for productivity improvement in insurance industry. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to measure the relative efficiency of some insurance firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange using data envelopment analysis (DEA) over the period 2011-2013. The proposed study of this paper uses four inputs namely; total assets, price to earnings ratio, beta and sigma and four outputs namely; net earnings, one-year, two-year and three-year returns. The study uses two methods of input and output oriented DEA to measures the relative efficiencies of 9 banks and the results indicate that most insurance firms perform well in terms of efficiency.

The aim of the present research is to study the relationship between intellect capital components and performance evaluation indicators. For measuring intellectual capital, the study uses Pulic’s method [Pulic, A. (2000). VAIC™–an accounting tool for IC management. International Journal of Technology Management, 20(5-8), 702-714.], which consists of three components of physical capital efficiency, human capital efficiency and structural capital efficiency. In the present study first, the value of the intellectual capital of the companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2006-2012 is calculated. Next, the relationship between the components of intellectual capital and financial return of the companies are evaluated. For calculating the financial performance 8 performance indicators in 5 groups presenting market value, profitability, activity, capital return, orientation on value creation are used. In the present research the statistical method used for data analysis is multiple regression and correlation coefficients. The selected sample of research includes 73 companies in continuous way for a time period of 7 years and the size of the company has been considered as a control variable. The findings indicate a positive and significant relationship between intellectual capital and financial performance of companies and a positive effect of the size of company on availability rate of intellectual capital and financial performance of a company.

Split delivery vehicle routing problem is one of the traditional types of routing problems in which the demand of different points can be divided among vehicles and the objective is to minimize the path length, which vehicles travel. In this paper, fuel cost of vehicles which is assumed to be dependent on their traveled path and load is considered as the objective functions. Namely, the cost of the consumed fuel is proportionate to the unit of load carried per unit of distance. In order to solve the proposed model a new memetic algorithm is developed which has two rows. The performance of the proposed algorithm for 21 standard problems is compared with the optimum solutions obtained from mathematical programming standard solver and the solutions of the same algorithm with single row solution representation. The results express the efficiency of developed algorithm.

This paper presents a study on the effects of professional ethics and commitments on audit quality. The population of this survey includes all audit managers who were active in auditing official statements of different firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange in 2014. The study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among 152 randomly selected managers. In our survey, professional ethics consists of four items including confidentiality and impartiality, professional competence, accountability and individual values while organizational commitment consists of three items including emotional commitment, continues commitment and fundamental commitment. Using Pearson correlation as well as regression models, the study has determined a positive and meaningful relationship between professional ethics as well as commitment and audit quality.

Customer’s trust is the most important and one of the key factors of success in e-commerce. However, trust is the essential aspects of e-banking adoption and the main element for building long-term relationships with the bank & apos; s customers. So the purpose of this research is to investigate the factors influencing on customer?s trust in e-banking services and prioritize them. Therefore, designed questionnaire was distributed among 177 electronic service customers in number of banks in the city of Karaj, Iran. Likert quintuplet scales were used to measure the variables. After collecting the questionnaires, the data were analyzed by structural equation modeling (by using LISREL 8.5). The results revealed that quality of electronic services such as ease of use, privacy and security, individual characteristics of customers such as disposition to trust and features of bank such as reputation, size and dependence on government, have had the greatest effect on customer?s trust in e-banking services.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to determine important factors influencing on customer satisfaction in after-sales service network of automotive industry. The study designs two questionnaires, one for measuring the quality of after-sales services and the other for measuring customers’ satisfaction. The study selects a sample of 265 randomly selected customers out of 850 people who received the services from an automotive firm in Iran. Cronbach alpha has calculated as 0.82, which is well above the minimum desirable level. Using Spearman correlation the study has detected a positive and meaningful relationship between services and customer satisfaction (r=0.48, Sig. =0.01), a positive relationship between being responsiveness and customer satisfaction (r=0.51, Sig. =0.01) and finally a positive relationship between speed of operation customer satisfaction (r=0.45, Sig. = 0.01). Moreover, there was a positive and meaningful relationship between cost of services and customer satisfaction (r=0.68, Sig. = 0.01) and a positive relationship between quality of services of after-sales services and customer satisfaction (r = 0.61, Sig. =0.01).

Efficiency plays essential role for improving the performance of banking industry. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to study the effect of efficiency on abnormal return. The proposed study collects the necessary information from official statements as well as historical data over the period 2009-2013 reported on Tehran Stock Exchange to examine the relationship between efficiency and abnormal return. Using regression analysis, the study has determined a meaningful, positive but weak relationship between abnormal return and efficiency. However, the study does not find any meaningful relationship between bank size and abnormal return.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to measure the effect of managerial ability on earning quality on selected firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2007-2013. The proposed study uses data envelopment analysis to measure the relative efficiency of selected firms where Sales is considered as output and Cost of goods (COGS), Selling, General and Administrative Expenses (SG & A), Net Property Plant and Equipment (PPE), Net operating Leases (OpsLease), Research & Development (R & D), Purchased Good will (Goodwill) and Other intangible assets (OtherIntan) are considered as inputs. Earning quality in this survey consists of three parts of quality of accruals, earnings and earnings forecast persistence. The results of our survey have indicated that managerial ability influences positively on earning quality.

One of the most important factors on attracting foreign investors to invest on Tehran Stock Exchange is to have transparent accounting rules and regulations. When there are some consistency between national accounting standards and international accounting standards, we may, at least, expect foreign investors to have better understanding on financial statements. In 2006, there were some changes on Iranian national accounting standards in an attempt to make them closer to international accounting standards. In this study, we select the information of 153 firms five years before and after this regulation and study the effect of convergence from national accounting standards to international accounting standards on foreign direct investment. Using some statistical tests, the study has determined that there was no meaningful relationship between foreign direct investment before and after change on accounting standards. In addition, there was no difference on the information quality before and after change on accounting standards. However, there was some meaningful relationship between the information quality and foreign direct investment.

The present study investigates the effects of participation of managers in budgeting on their management performance in the Tehran regional electricity company. Variables of this study are participation in budgeting, performance of managers, adequacy of funding and resource allocation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational trust. The type of research is survey. The study population consists of all middle level managers of Tehran Regional Electricity Company who according to the approved organizational chart were 34 in 2012. The research tool is a questionnaire. Analysis of data collected is accomplished by using the SPSS and smartPLS. The results show a significant correlation between the variables of managers & apos; participation in budgeting and organizational trust, adequacy of funding and resource allocation and job satisfaction, organizational trust of managers on organizational commitment, organizational commitment and competence in the absorption of funding and optimal resource allocation and finally the competence in funding and optimal resource allocation of managers as well as job satisfaction and management performance.