The determinants of accounting comparability around the world

Jonathan Ross, Linna Shi and Hong Xie

Asian Review of Accounting, 2019, vol. 28, issue 1, 69-88

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate country-level and firm-level determinants of within-country accounting comparability for 16 European Union countries plus the USA in the post-International Financial Reporting Standards adoption period. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use ordinary least squares regression to test the hypotheses with a correction for heteroscedasticity. Findings - The authors find that firms in countries with rules-based accounting, higher quality public auditor work environments, stricter enforcement of accounting standards and more reliance on equity-market financing have higher within-country comparability with each other. At the firm-level, the authors find that firms which are larger, engage in less earnings management, and have lower return-on-asset volatility have higher within-country comparability with each other. Research limitations/implications - The authors use one measure of accounting comparability. Alternative measures of accounting comparability could test the hypotheses more completely. Practical implications - The findings of the paper may help the regulators make more efficient policies to establish an efficient financial market within their country. Originality/value - The paper is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to identify country-level and firm-level determinants of within-country accounting comparability. It contributes to the accounting literature by completing the theory of international accounting comparability from the within-country perspectives, as prior literature focuses on the cross-country perspective of international accounting comparability.

Keywords: Accounting comparability; Around the world; International Financial Reporting Standards (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:arapps:ara-04-2019-0087

DOI: 10.1108/ARA-04-2019-0087

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