IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jbfnac/v36y2009i3-4p336-372.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Economic Determinants of Conditional Conservatism

Author

Listed:
  • Juan Manuel García Lara
  • Beatriz García Osma
  • Fernando Penalva

Abstract

We study the economic determinants of conditional conservatism. Consistent with prior literature, we find that contracting induces only conditional conservatism and litigation induces both conditional and unconditional conservatism. We extend prior evidence by Qiang (2007) by showing that taxation and regulation induce not only unconditional conservatism, but conditional conservatism as well. We show that in certain scenarios taxation and regulation create incentives to shift income from periods with high taxation pressure and high public scrutiny to periods with lower taxation pressure and lower public scrutiny. These income shifting strategies are implemented by recognising current economic losses that, given managerial incentives to report aggressively, would not have been recognized otherwise, or by delaying the recognition of current economic gains that would have been recognized had circumstances been different.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Fernando Penalva, 2009. "The Economic Determinants of Conditional Conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3‐4), pages 336-372, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:36:y:2009:i:3-4:p:336-372
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5957.2008.02122.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5957.2008.02122.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-5957.2008.02122.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Farshid Navissi, 1999. "Earnings Management under Price Regulation," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 281-304, June.
    2. Marilyn F. Johnson & Ron Kasznik & Karen K. Nelson, 2001. "The Impact of Securities Litigation Reform on the Disclosure of Forward‐Looking Information By High Technology Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 297-327, September.
    3. Begoña Giner & William Rees, 2001. "On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9&10), pages 1285-1331.
    4. Stephen Ryan, 2006. "Identifying Conditional Conservatism," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 511-525.
    5. Graham, John R. & Mills, Lillian F., 2008. "Using tax return data to simulate corporate marginal tax rates," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2-3), pages 366-388, December.
    6. Holthausen, Robert W. & Watts, Ross L., 2001. "The relevance of the value-relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 3-75, September.
    7. Begoña Giner & William Rees, 2001. "On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9‐10), pages 1285-1331, November.
    8. Scholes, Ms & Wilson, Gp & Wolfson, Ma, 1992. "Firms Responses To Anticipated Reductions In Tax Rates - The Tax-Reform Act Of 1986," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30, pages 161-185.
    9. Beaver, WH & Ryan, SG, 2000. "Biases and lags in book value and their effects on the ability of the book-to-market ratio to predict book return on equity," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 127-148.
    10. Paul Hribar & Daniel W. Collins, 2002. "Errors in Estimating Accruals: Implications for Empirical Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 105-134, March.
    11. Wendy Beekes & Peter Pope & Steven Young, 2004. "The Link Between Earnings Timeliness, Earnings Conservatism and Board Composition: evidence from the UK," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 47-59, January.
    12. Kellogg, Robert L., 1984. "Accounting activities, security prices, and class action lawsuits," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 185-204, December.
    13. Plesko, George A., 2003. "An evaluation of alternative measures of corporate tax rates," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 201-226, June.
    14. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Araceli Mora, 2005. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 691-726, April.
    15. K. J. Martijn Cremers & Vinay B. Nair, 2005. "Governance Mechanisms and Equity Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2859-2894, December.
    16. Ivana Raonic & Stuart McLeay & Ioannis Asimakopoulos, 2004. "The Timeliness of Income Recognition by European Companies: An Analysis of Institutional and Market Complexity," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1‐2), pages 115-148, January.
    17. Sudipta Basu, 2001. "Discussion of On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9‐10), pages 1333-1349, November.
    18. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    19. Shackelford, Douglas A. & Shevlin, Terry, 2001. "Empirical tax research in accounting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 321-387, September.
    20. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    21. Pope, PF & Walker, M, 1999. "International differences in the timeliness, conservatism, and classification of earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37, pages 53-87.
    22. Chung, Hyeesoo H. & Wynn, Jinyoung P., 2008. "Managerial legal liability coverage and earnings conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 135-153, September.
    23. Ball, Ray & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2005. "Earnings quality in UK private firms: comparative loss recognition timeliness," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 83-128, February.
    24. Key, Kimberly Galligan, 1997. "Political cost incentives for earnings management in the cable television industry," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 309-337, November.
    25. Seetharaman, Ananth & Gul, Ferdinand A. & Lynn, Stephen G., 2002. "Litigation risk and audit fees: evidence from UK firms cross-listed on US markets," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 91-115, February.
    26. Ball, Ray & Robin, Ashok & Wu, Joanna Shuang, 2003. "Incentives versus standards: properties of accounting income in four East Asian countries," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 235-270, December.
    27. Kumar Sivakumar & Gregory Waymire, 2003. "Enforceable Accounting Rules and Income Measurement by Early 20th Century Railroads," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 397-432, May.
    28. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Araceli Mora, 2005. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 691-726, April.
    29. Roychowdhury, Sugata & Watts, Ross L., 2007. "Asymmetric timeliness of earnings, market-to-book and conservatism in financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1-2), pages 2-31, September.
    30. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    31. Joachim Gassen & Rolf Uwe Fulbier & Thorsten Sellhorn, 2006. "International Differences in Conditional Conservatism - The Role of Unconditional Conservatism and Income Smoothing," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 527-564.
    32. Givoly, Dan & Hayn, Carla, 2000. "The changing time-series properties of earnings, cash flows and accruals: Has financial reporting become more conservative?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 287-320, June.
    33. Juan Manuel Garcia Lara & Beatriz Garcia Osma & Fernando Penalva, 2007. "Board of Directors' Characteristics and Conditional Accounting Conservatism: Spanish Evidence," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 727-755.
    34. Ivana Raonic & Stuart McLeay & Ioannis Asimakopoulos, 2004. "The Timeliness of Income Recognition by European Companies: An Analysis of Institutional and Market Complexity," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1‐2), pages 115-148, January.
    35. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    36. Sudipta Basu, 2001. "Discussion of On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9‐10), pages 1333-1349, November.
    37. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "Corrigendum to "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings"; [Journal of Accounting and Economics 29 (2000) 1-51]," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 241-241, October.
    38. Guay, Wayne & Verrecchia, Robert, 2006. "Discussion of an economic framework for conservative accounting and Bushman and Piotroski (2006)," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 149-165, October.
    39. Douglas A. Shackelford & Joel Slemrod & James M. Sallee, 2007. "A Unifying Model of How the Tax System and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Affect Corporate Behavior," NBER Working Papers 12873, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    40. Bushman, Robert M. & Piotroski, Joseph D., 2006. "Financial reporting incentives for conservative accounting: The influence of legal and political institutions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 107-148, October.
    41. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April.
    42. Carel Huijgen & Martien Lubberink, 2005. "Earnings Conservatism, Litigation and Contracting: The Case of Cross‐Listed Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7‐8), pages 1275-1309, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Sun, 2019. "The impact of ownership structure on conditional and unconditional conservatism in China: Some new evidence," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 49-68.
    2. Xiaomeng Chen & Meiting Lu & Yaowen Shan & Yizhou Zhang, 2023. "Securities class actions and conditional conservatism: Evidence from two legal events," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(2), pages 2441-2471, June.
    3. Haider, Imran & Singh, Harjinder & Sultana, Nigar, 2021. "Managerial ability and accounting conservatism," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1).
    4. Khalifa, Mariem & Trabelsi, Samir & Matoussi, Hamadi, 2022. "Leverage, R&D expenditures, and accounting conservatism: Evidence from technology firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 285-304.
    5. Mattias Hamberg & Jiri Novak, 2010. "Accounting Conservatism and Transitory Earnings in Value and Growth Strategies," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5‐6), pages 518-537, June.
    6. Robert Kieschnick & Wenyun Shi, 2021. "Nonstationarity in the relationship between corporate governance and accounting conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3-4), pages 463-497, March.
    7. Muhammad Bilal Saeed & Syed Kashif Saeed, 2018. "Corporate Governance and Accounting Conservatism: Moderating role of Audit Quality and Disclosure Quality," Business & Economic Review, Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar, Pakistan, vol. 10(2), pages 123-150, June.
    8. David S. Jenkins & Gregory D. Kane & Uma Velury, 2009. "Earnings Conservatism and Value Relevance Across the Business Cycle," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9‐10), pages 1041-1058, November.
    9. Akinobu Shuto & Tomomi Takada, 2010. "Managerial Ownership and Accounting Conservatism in Japan: A Test of Management Entrenchment Effect," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7‐8), pages 815-840, July.
    10. Rui Wang, 2021. "The attention of long‐term institutional investors and timely loss recognition," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1596-1629, October.
    11. Guochao Wan & Ahmad Yahya Dawod, 2022. "ESG Rating and Northbound Capital Shareholding Preferences: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-19, July.
    12. García Osma, Beatriz & Mora, Araceli & Porcuna-Enguix, Luis, 2019. "Prudential supervisors’ independence and income smoothing in European banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 156-176.
    13. William Rees, 2009. "Discussion of Economic Determinants of Conditional Conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3‐4), pages 373-383, April.
    14. Habib, Ahsan & Jiang, Haiyan & Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin & Islam, Ainul, 2014. "Litigation risk, financial reporting and auditing: A survey of the literature," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 145-163.
    15. Feng Chen & Qingyuan Li & Li Xu, 2021. "Universal demand laws and the monitoring demand for accounting conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(7-8), pages 1246-1289, July.
    16. Anantavrasilp, Sereeparp & Huijgen, Carel & Lubberink, Martien, 2021. "Do firms anticipate security issues by conservative reporting?," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    17. Anagnostopoulou, Seraina C. & Tsekrekos, Andrianos E. & Voulgaris, Georgios, 2021. "Accounting conservatism and corporate social responsibility," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    18. Lawrence, Alastair & Sloan, Richard & Sun, Yuan, 2013. "Non-discretionary conservatism: Evidence and implications," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 112-133.
    19. Akmalia M. Ariff & Khairul Anuar Kamarudin, 2019. "Institutional Quality, Tax Avoidance, and Analysts' Forecast: International Evidence," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 27(2), pages 15-35.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Fernando Penalva, 2009. "The Economic Determinants of Conditional Conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3‐4), pages 336-372, April.
    2. Khalifa, Mariem & Trabelsi, Samir & Matoussi, Hamadi, 2022. "Leverage, R&D expenditures, and accounting conservatism: Evidence from technology firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 285-304.
    3. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    4. Chi, Wuchun & Liu, Chiawen & Wang, Taychang, 2009. "What affects accounting conservatism: A corporate governance perspective," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 47-59.
    5. Akram Khalilov & Beatriz Garcia Osma, 2020. "Accounting conservatism and the profitability of corporate insiders," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3-4), pages 333-364, March.
    6. Juan Manuel Garcia Lara & Araceli Mora, 2004. "Balance sheet versus earnings conservatism in Europe," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 261-292.
    7. Chi, Wuchun & Wang, Chenchin, 2010. "Accounting conservatism in a setting of Information Asymmetry between majority and minority shareholders," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 465-489, December.
    8. Akinobu Shuto & Tomomi Takada, 2010. "Managerial Ownership and Accounting Conservatism in Japan: A Test of Management Entrenchment Effect," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7‐8), pages 815-840, July.
    9. Paul André & Andrei Filip & Luc Paugam, 2013. "Impact of Mandatory IFRS Adoption on Conditional Conservatism in Europe," Working Papers hal-00862683, HAL.
    10. Araceli Mora & Martin Walker, 2015. "The implications of research on accounting conservatism for accounting standard setting," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(5), pages 620-650, August.
    11. Inès Kammoun & Samah Rebai Azouz & Walid Khoufi, 2016. "Les déterminants du conservatisme comptable conditionnel dans le contexte français," Post-Print hal-01901131, HAL.
    12. Chun Yu Mak & Norman Strong & Martin Walker, 2011. "Conditional Earnings Conservatism and Corporate Refocusing Activities," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 1041-1082, September.
    13. repec:hal:journl:hal-00862683 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Moy, Melissa & Heaney, Richard & Tarca, Ann & van Zyl, Warrick, 2020. "Conditional accounting conservatism: Exploring the impact of changes in institutional frameworks in four countries," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    15. Karampinis, Nikolaos I. & Hevas, Dimosthenis L., 2011. "Mandating IFRS in an Unfavorable Environment: The Greek Experience," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 304-332, September.
    16. Dmitri Byzalov & Sudipta Basu, 2016. "Conditional conservatism and disaggregated bad news indicators in accrual models," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 859-897, September.
    17. Chung, Hyeesoo H. & Wynn, Jinyoung P., 2008. "Managerial legal liability coverage and earnings conservatism," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 135-153, September.
    18. Sudipta Basu & Yi Liang, 2019. "Director–Liability–Reduction Laws and Conditional Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 889-917, September.
    19. Gomez Biscarri, Javier & Lopez Espinosa, German, 2008. "The influence of differences in accounting standards on empirical pricing models: An application to the Fama-French model," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 369-388, October.
    20. Wang, Y., 2006. "Essays on the relevance and use of dirty surplus accounting flows in Europe," Other publications TiSEM 6b8751e2-3222-40d8-9fe3-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    21. Panayotis Manganaris & Jordan Floropoulos & Irini Smaragdi, 2011. "Conservatism and Value Relevance: Evidence from the European Financial Sector," American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, Science Publications, vol. 3(2), pages 259-269, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:36:y:2009:i:3-4:p:336-372. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0306-686X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.