Purpose The agency theory predicts that there are conflict of interests between managers and shareholders over free cash flow and major operating decisions. Earnings management can help managers hide and retain their private benefits of control. Given that, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether financial leverage reduces agency and information problems caused by earnings management. Design/methodology/approach The research uses a sample of annual data of 200 firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during 2002-2016. The data required is obtained from the Rahavard Novin database. The research uses multivariate regression models that regress financial leverage on earnings management proxies and other determinants of capital structure. Findings The research documents that firms with higher income smoothing and the absolute value of discretionary accruals, as the proxies for earnings management, have higher financial leverage. The results suggest that a higher level of financial leverage can discipline managers and generate useful information about firm quality. Originality/value The study highlights the informational and disciplining role of debt in the presence of severe uncertainty about firm quality in a developing country.

We present avidity sequencing - a novel sequencing chemistry that separately optimizes the process of stepping along a DNA template and the process of identifying each nucleotide within the template. Nucleotide identification uses multivalent nucleotide ligands on dye-labeled cores to form polymerase-polymer nucleotide complexes bound to clonal copies of DNA targets. These polymer-nucleotide substrates, termed avidites, decrease the required concentration of reporting nucleotides from micromolar to nanomolar, and yield negligible dissociation rates. We demonstrate the use of avidites as a key component of a sequencing technology that surpasses Q40 accuracy and enables a diversity of applications that include single cell RNA-seq and whole human genome sequencing. We also show the advantages of this technology in sequencing through long homopolymers.

We present avidity sequencing, a sequencing chemistry that separately optimizes the processes of stepping along a DNA template and that of identifying each nucleotide within the template. Nucleotide identification uses multivalent nucleotide ligands on dye-labeled cores to form polymerase–polymer–nucleotide complexes bound to clonal copies of DNA targets. These polymer–nucleotide substrates, termed avidites, decrease the required concentration of reporting nucleotides from micromolar to nanomolar and yield negligible dissociation rates. Avidity sequencing achieves high accuracy, with 96.2% and 85.4% of base calls having an average of one error per 1,000 and 10,000 base pairs, respectively. We show that the average error rate of avidity sequencing remained stable following a long homopolymer.