Empirical test of the relationship between debt leverage and ownership structure on Iranian firms Ohadi Fereydouna, Sabetfar Pooyab, Asgari Zohrec aAssistant Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran bAssistant Professor, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Azad University, Qazvin, Iran cAzad University, Qazvin, Iran Online published on 23 September, 2014. Abstract Corporate governance is generally seen to strengthen shareholders rights and increasing their wealth. This research focuses on an important issue, which has generally received less attention in corporate governance literature, being the effect of debt leverage on ownership structure and also the effect of firm size and profitability on this relationship. By employing a sample of Iranian listed firms, in Tehran Stock Exchange during the period 2006 to 2012 (a period of seven years), the generalized least squares method, as a panel data technique, is used to examine effect of debt leverage on ownership structure by mediating firm size and profitability. The results reveal that debt leverage is negatively related to ownership structure and also firm size moderates the relationship between debt leverage and ownership structure. It is controlled by the ratio of tangible assets. Top Keywords Debt leverage, ownership structure, controlling shareholders, institutional shareholders, firm size, profitability. Top |