Safdar Alipour

The research objective firstly is to develop a model for evaluating information quality of reporting entities using network data envelopment analysis (NDEA) models. The main motivation is the multidimensional feature of information quality concept with respect to the proxies and consequences of information quality along with the capabilities of DEA models in evaluating efficiency of decision-making units (DMUs: here the reporting entities) based on different inputs and outputs. In this regard, firstly the most important proxies and consequences of information quality are extracted from literature review and secondly considered as inputs and outputs of consequential two-stage NDEA model depending on their relationships with information quality concept and finally the information efficiency of reporting entities measured using simultaneously the proxies and consequences of information quality. The second objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between ethical values of reporting entities and the quality of information provided by them. The results obtained from conducting this phase of the research clarified that the first, second, and sixth hypotheses are accepted and the remaining hypotheses are rejected. These results indicate that financial reporting quality of firms is affected by the extent to which utilitarianism, pragmatism and unethical approaches are believed, but it is not affected by deontological, hermeneutical and religious approaches. To put it more clearly, financial reporting quality improves by an increase in the extent of belief in utilitarianism and unethical approaches and worsens by an increase in the level of belief in pragmatism approach. In brief, financial reporting quality involves prioritizing social interests over personal interests, and accounting ethics is nothing but this.