The Impact of Financial Distress under the Moderating Role of Corporate Life Cycle on Managerial Opportunistic Behavior in Determining the Income Tax “Evidence from the Egyptian stock Exchange”

Purpose: Investigating the impact of financial distress on managerialopportunistic behavior in determining the income tax of non-financial firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX), in addition to determining the moderating role of corporte life cycle stages on this influence relationship.
Design/Methodology: The research sample consists of 794 observations of non-financial firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange, the multiple regression models were used to test research hypotheses. A fundmental analysis and a sensitivity test were performed.
Findings: Using Altman (1968) model for financial distress, the results of the fundamental analysis indicated that there was a positive effect of financial distress on managerialopportunistic behavior in determining the income tax of non-financial firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange. Using Dickinson (2011) model in determining the corporate life cycle stages, it found also a positive effect of introduction stage and a negative effect of mature stage on that influence relationship. By using an alternative proxy to measure the financial distress, the results of the sensitivity test found the same results as the fundmental analysis, which reflects the strength and robustness of the findings.
Recommentions: Based on the previous findings, the research recommends making an amendment to the tax legislation that increases penalties and fines if it is proven that corporate management is involved in aggressive tax avoidance and tax evasion, exerting efforts by the concerned authorities to find mechanisms that limit the adoption of managerial opportunistic behavior and illegal actions regarding the income tax determination, and solving the financial distress that corporate is exposed to during the life cycle stages away from managerial opportunistic behavior related to determining the tax.
Originality/Value: The research tries to reduce the research gap in the accounting literature on the subject area of research. The findings of the research are expected to be of interest to management, investors, financial analysts, and tax officials.