Open Access Research Article

When CSR Meets Audit Expertise: Examining the Relationship Between CSR and Financial Performance

Authors

Mehdi Zolfaghari * Department of Accounting, Someh Sara Branch, Islamic Azad University, Someh Sara, Iran.
Iraj Shirinpour Department of Accounting, Someh Sara Branch, Islamic Azad University, Someh Sara, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22105/aaa.v3i4.115

Downloads

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and financial performance, considering the interactive role of Audit Committee Expertise (ACE), in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. In this study, CSR and ACE are considered independent variables, while financial performance is considered the dependent variable. To this end, 145 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange were examined over the period from 2019 to 2024. After selecting the sample and collecting the required data, the research variables were calculated. Finally, the Chow and Hausman tests were employed to analyze the data and test the research hypotheses. The results of the hypothesis tests indicated that CSR has a direct and significant relationship with financial performance. The results of the second hypothesis showed that CSR does not have a significant relationship with financial performance in companies with highly specialized audit committees. In other words, due to the absence of a significant relationship between ACE and financial performance, ACE also neutralizes the direct relationship between CSR and financial performance.

Keywords

Corporate social responsibility Audit committee expertise Financial performance

References (21)

[1] Frederiksen, T. (2019). Political settlements, the mining industry and corporate social responsibility in developing countries. The extractive industries and society, 6(1), 162–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2018.07.007

[2] Cavaco, S., & Crifo, P. (2014). CSR and financial performance: Complementarity between environmental, social and business behaviours. Applied economics, 46(27), 3323–3338. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2014.927572

[3] Mohammadi, S., Saeidi, H., & Naghshbandi, N. (2020). The impact of board and audit committee characteristics on corporate social responsibility: evidence from the Iranian stock exchange. International journal of productivity and performance management, 70(8), 2207–2236. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-10-2019-0506

[4] Dwekat, A., Meqbel, R., Seguí-Mas, E., & Tormo-Carbó, G. (2022). The role of the audit committee in enhancing the credibility of CSR disclosure: Evidence from STOXX Europe 600 members. Business ethics, the environment & responsibility, 31(3), 718–740. https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12439

[5] Buallay, A., & Al-Ajmi, J. (2019). The role of audit committee attributes in corporate sustainability reporting: Evidence from banks in the Gulf cooperation council. Journal of applied accounting research, 21(2), 249–264. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAAR-06-2018-0085

[6] Aras, G., Aybars, A., & Kutlu, O. (2010). Managing corporate performance: Investigating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in emerging markets. International journal of productivity and performance management, 59(3), 229–254. https://doi.org/10.1108/17410401011023573

[7] Li, W., Yan, T., & Li, Y. (2025). Corporate social responsibility and financial performance in a cross-country context: A meta-analysis. Journal of business research, 190, 115218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115218

[8] Hyusein, A. (2025). The relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance: Reflections on the US technology industry. Middle east journal of management, 12(2), 216–236. https://doi.org/10.1504/MEJM.2025.144788

[9] Lin, C. H., Yang, H. L., & Liou, D. Y. (2009). The impact of corporate social responsibility on financial performance: Evidence from business in Taiwan. Technology in society, 31(1), 56–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2008.10.004

[10] Phan, T. T. A., Nguyen, N. L., Casanova, L., Nguyen, D. Van, & Dao, H. M. (2025). Disruptive and incremental innovation as mediators in the CSR-financial performance link: evidence from Vietnam. Corporate governance, 25(7), 1667–1681. https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-04-2024-0187

[11] Wejesiri, M., Park, C., Wanke, P., Tan, Y., & Searcy, C. (2025). Exploring the link between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in social enterprises: The mediating role of productivity. Corporate social responsibility and environmental management, 32(2), 2697–2709. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.3074

[12] Kaleem, S., Ahmad, B., & Tabassam, A. (2025). An exploratory study of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance: The role of artificial intelligence in enhancing CSR and financial outcomes. Social science review archives, 3(1), 1571–1581. https://doi.org/10.70670/sra.v3i1.458

[13] Seyfideli, A., & FarhadTouski, O. (2024). Investigating the relationship between social responsibility and financial performance, financial stability and financial inclusion of banks admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange. International journal of business management and entrepreneurship, 3(1), 51–63. https://mbajournal.ir/index.php/IJBME/article/view/54

[14] Salehi, M., Lari DashtBayaz, M., & Khorashadizadeh, S. (2018). Corporate social responsibility and future financial performance: Evidence from Tehran Stock Exchange. EuroMed journal of business, 13(3), 351–371. https://doi.org/10.1108/EMJB-11-2017-0044

[15] Meviani, R. S. A., & Syafruddin, M. (2024). The impact of social responsibility on financial performance with audit quality as a moderation variable in Indonesia. Tax accounting applied journal, 2(2), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.14710/taaij.2023.20389

[16] Fakhari, H., & Fallahpour, F. (2017). Examining the mediating effect of financial performance on the relationship between social responsibility and market value added in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. Financial management outlook, 20, 97-114. (In Persian). https://dor.isc.ac/dor/20.1001.1.26454637.1396.7.20.5.8

[17] Aghaie Chadeghani, A., Behdarvand, M., & Rezaei, N. (2024). The effect of corporate social responsibility and managerial ability on firm value considering the role of profitability in companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. Journal of accounting and management vision, 7(92), 43-67. (In Persian). https://www.jamv.ir/article_203311_6c401aa1ffa5c0f4c6bf4766ddb8f3ec.pdf?lang=en

[18] Rostami, F., Abdoli, M., & Shahri, M. (2024). Investigating the moderating role of ownership concentration on the relationship between corporate social responsibility performance and information asymmetry in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. Journal of accounting and management vision, 7(91), 283-294. (In Persian). https://www.jamv.ir/article_203365_686f2e6daa7a1464c8c21003b31bef8f.pdf?lang=en

[19] Su, R., Liu, C., & Teng, W. (2020). The heterogeneous effects of CSR dimensions on financial performance: A new approach for CSR measurement. Journal of business economics and management (JBEM), 21(4), 987–1009. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2020.12394

[20] Noormohammadi, S. (2025). The impact of environmental, social and governance performance on the quality of financial reporting emphasis on product market competition. Transactions on quantitative finance and beyond, 2(3), 189–202. https://doi.org/10.22105/tqfb.v2i3.71

[21] Abbasi, M. H., & Ghoolamrezayinezhad, N. (2024). The impact of social responsibility on organizational trust in the auditing profession, with the moderating role of gender. Financial and banking strategic studies, 2(3), 232-249. (In Persian). https://doi.org/10.22105/fbs.2025.498644.1144

Article Metrics

Published 2026-12-08
Issue Vol. 3 No. 4 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)
Section Articles
Document Type Research Article
Views 0
Downloads 0

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Accounting and Auditing with Applications

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

View License Details

How to Cite

Zolfaghari, M. ., & Shirinpour, I. . (2026). When CSR Meets Audit Expertise: Examining the Relationship Between CSR and Financial Performance. Accounting and Auditing With Applications , 3(4), 283-296. https://doi.org/10.22105/aaa.v3i4.115

Download Citation

Similar Articles

Nayereh-Sadat Tabaei Aghdaei, Mohsen Dastgir, Does Corporate Sustainability Shape Audit Opinion? The Moderating Role of Audit Committee Independence , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 3 No. 3 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)
Araz Shahbazpour Shahbazi, From Intelligent Reporting to Investor Trust: The Mediating Power of Information Transparency , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 3 No. 4 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)
Mehdi Zolfaghari , Iraj Shirinpour, Examining the Moderating Effect of Audit Committee Expertise on the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 3 No. 2 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)
Mohsen Imeni, Haifa Alqahtani, Business Risk and Audit Fees as Moderators of Operational Complexity: Further Evidence from an Emerging Market , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 1 No. 4 (2024): Accounting and Auditing with Applications
The Political Roots of Income Smoothing: The Moderating Influence of Institutional Investors , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 3 No. 4 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)
Hossein Taghipour, Mohammad Ali Sari, Mojtaba Soleymani Marshak, The Impact of Managerial Short-Term Orientation on Voluntary Disclosure , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 3 No. 3 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)
Mohsen Dastgir, Nayyere Sadat Tabayi Aghdayi, The Impact of Corporate Sustainability Performance on Audit Opinion, Considering the Role of Audit Committee Independence in Companies Listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 3 No. 2 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)
Ebrahim Bahrami-Nia, Saeed Nematollah Azimi-Nia, Finance and Productivity Across Income Levels: Unveiling the Heterogeneous Effects of Financial Development , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 3 No. 3 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)
Soheila Zarbizadeh, Razieh Bahraini, Zahra Sadat Hosseini, When Burnout Undermines Audit Quality: The Mediating Role of Dysfunctional Audit Behaviors and the Protective Role of Organizational Support , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 3 No. 4 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)
Najmeh Khodabakhshi, Azam PourYousef, Esmat Taheri, Political Uncertainty and Cash Holdings , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 3 No. 1 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)

1-10 of 61 Next

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Mehdi Zolfaghari , Iraj Shirinpour, Examining the Moderating Effect of Audit Committee Expertise on the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance , Accounting and Auditing with Applications : Vol. 3 No. 2 (2026): Accounting and Auditing with Applications (AAA)