Proprietary Costs of Financial Reporting, Country-Level Attributes, and Financial Statement Comparability
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of country-level attributes on the relationship between proprietary costs of financial reporting and financial statement comparability. Given that managers use discretion in financial reporting, proprietary costs of financial reporting and country-level attributes could play a role in shaping managers’ financial reporting behavior, which, in turn, could have an impact on financial statement comparability. For international study, I use four country-level latent factors, suggested by Isidro et al. (2019), that categorize most country-level features that affect financial reporting practices. I find that the negative relationship between proprietary costs and comparability is stronger in countries with relatively poorer financial reporting environments. This result indicates that managers are more concerned about proprietary costs and enjoy more discretion allowed by poorer financial reporting environments. Further, I find that strong protection of investor rights and better developed capital markets are most effective in restricting managers’ use of discretion in financial reporting. This study provides guidance for standard setters in countries with poor financial reporting environments. Regulators should emphasize strong protection of investor rights and further develop capital markets in order to enhance firms’ financial reporting quality.
Subject Area
Accounting
Recommended Citation
Gil, Jangho, "Proprietary Costs of Financial Reporting, Country-Level Attributes, and Financial Statement Comparability" (2020). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI27837771.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI27837771