Economic Appraisal of Investment Projects in Solar Energy under Uncertainty via Fuzzy Real Option Approach (Case Study: a 2-MW Photovoltaic Plant in South of Isfahan, Iran)

Investment in renewable energies especially solar energies is encountered with numerous uncertainties considering the increased dynamism in economic and financial conditions and makes investment in this field irreversible to a large extent, paying attention to modern methods of economic appraisal of such investments is highly important. A framework is provided in the current study in order to employ the real option theory in evaluation of photovoltaic plants comparing with traditional methods. To this end, first, uncertainty factors of these plants in Isfahan province (one of highly susceptible regions in Iran) are identified from the view point of experts and impact factor of each one on interests and expenses of the above plant will be evaluated in order to insert these parameters in the form of fuzzy numbers in the model for better coverage of uncertainty. Then, the project under study is evaluated through both traditional methods and fuzzy real option approach with the help of Black-Scholes model and the results are compared. The results disclosed that investment value in these plants is increased if real expansion and abandonment options are considered. As a result, the real option theory has a higher adequacy than the traditional methods for evaluation of projects

Analysis of Factors Affecting the Adoption and Use of Environmental Management Accounting to Provide a Conceptual Model

The present study examines and modeling the factors influencing the use of environmental management accounting tools from the financial managers and assistants point of view, who are in the oil refining and petrochemical companies. For this purpose, five main hypotheses have been developed and tested by using questionnaire. The result of this test by using, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation test showed that from financial managers and assistants' point of view, resistance to change, lack of standards and methods for gathering and allocation of environmental costs and lack of standards, competitive environment and society culture in dealing with environmental issues are the factors that influence the use of environmental management accounting tools. The result of the fifth hypothesis test showed that except sex, all of the personal characteristic of managers and assistants like professional work experience, field of study, academic paper and age have meaningful influence on the financial managers and assistants' point of view in the ratio of some effective factors in using the environmental management accounting tools.  Keywords: environmental management accounting, oil refining company, path analysis. JEL Classifications: C32; O13; O4

Relation of Conditional and Non-conditional Persistence of Earning Components to Abnormal Stock Returns

This study examines the relation of conditional and non-conditional persistence of earning components to abnormal returns. The conditional persistence has been calculated using the concept of investors’ over-reaction towards accruals and their under-reaction towards sales revenue. The research uses multivariate regression method and the statistical sample consists of 66 firms listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange over the period from 2003 to 2016. To test the hypotheses, the panel data method and t-student test is used. The findings show a significant relation of the “the difference of conditional and non-conditional persistence of unexpected revenues” and “unexpected revenues” to “abnormal stock returns”; however, the findings indicate no relation of “differences of conditional and non-conditional persistence of unexpected revenues” and “unexpected earnings” to “abnormal stock returns”. Also, the relation between “the difference of conditional and non-conditional persistence of accruals" and "accrual anomaly" is not confirmed

Recognition of Earnings Management Using Changes in Asset Turnover and Profit Margin

The aim of this research is to recognize earnings management of the firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange using changes in asset turnover (ATO) and profit margin (PM). ATO/PM model and Jones adjusted abnormal accruals model have been used to recognize upward and downward earnings management. Statistical population contains 133 firms during 2004-2011. The correlations tests, the mean equality tests such as t-student & Welch, and also panel/pooled regression models have been used to test the research hypotheses. Findings indicate that contemporaneous increases in PM and decreases in ATO cannot be as a recognizer of upward earnings management, and also contemporaneous decreases in PM and increases in ATO cannot be as a recognizer of downward earnings management. Also, results show that Jones adjusted abnormal accruals  model as compared to ATO/PM model has incremental and greater relative information content in recognition of earnings management

The Factors Affecting the Adoption of Enviromental Management Accounting in the Oil Refining and Petrochemical Companies with Structural Equation Modeling Aprpoach

Introduction: Today, businesses must focus on profits on the one hand and social and environmental issues on the other hand to make balance between them. Conservation and sustainability are increasingly dependent on observance of corporate social responsibilities. For this reason, business units report on their sustainability and environmental accounting. The aim of this study was to examine and model the factors influencing the use of environmental management accounting tools from the points of view of financial managers and assistants who are in the oil refining and petrochemical companies. Method: The method used in this study was based on a descriptive survey and its design was quasi-experimental. For the field of study, a questionnaire including 5 general and 31 specific questions was used. The population consisted of financial administrators and assistants in oil refining and petrochemical companies, a subsidiary of the national oil company. There was no sampling method used and we tested the whole society including 182 people. To evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach’s Alpha and spilit-half were used. The measurement tools used in the study were reliable and none of the questions was removed. One sample t-test, Pearson correlation, confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, structural equation modeling, two sample T-test and analysis of variance were performed by using LISREL and SPSS software. Results: The result of this test by using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation test showed that the significance level of all the factors were larger than 1/96 and all the routes specified in the model were significant. Culture of the society in dealing with environmental issues, with a significance level of 5/54, had the greatest impact among the factors influencing the use of environmental management accounting tools. Conclusion: According to the results of the study, it is recommended that, by using personality tools, the right people should be appointed in organizational position in that agency to implement environmental management accounting and it is necessary to establish the use of tools in reducing environmental pollution

Revealing the Challenges of Smart Rainwater Harvesting for Integrated and Digital Resilience of Urban Water Infrastructure

Smart rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems can automatically release stormwater prior to rainfall events to increase detention capacity on a household level. However, impacts and benefits of a widespread implementation of these systems are often unknown. This works aims to investigate the effect of a large-scale implementation of smart RWH systems on urban resilience by hypothetically retrofitting an Alpine municipality with smart rain barrels. Smart RWH systems represent dynamic systems, and therefore, the interaction between the coupled systems RWH units, an urban drainage network (UDN) and digital infrastructure is critical for evaluating resilience against system failures. In particular, digital parameters (e.g., accuracy of weather forecasts, or reliability of data communication) can differ from an ideal performance. Therefore, different digital parameters are varied to determine the range of uncertainties associated with smart RWH systems. As the results demonstrate, smart RWH systems can further increase integrated system resilience but require a coordinated integration into the overall system. Additionally, sufficient consideration of digital uncertainties is of great importance for smart water systems, as uncertainties can reduce/eliminate gained performance improvements. Moreover, a long-term simulation should be applied to investigate resilience with digital applications to reduce dependence on boundary conditions and rainfall patterns