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Value relevance of conservative and non-conservative accounting information

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  • Kousenidis, Dimitrios V.
  • Ladas, Anestis C.
  • Negakis, Christos I.

Abstract

The present paper examines effects of reporting conservatism on the value relevance of accounting earnings of a sample of Greek firms over the period from 1989 to 2003. The results of the paper indicate that conservatism is a salient feature of the Greek Accounting System. Moreover, the results depict that the level of conservatism has increased after the market crisis of 1999, potentially as a result of the additional regulation, imposed by the market authorities during the post-crisis period. Finally, the results show that there is a non-linear association between conservative reporting and value relevance of earnings. In particular, value relevance increases when moving from low-conservative firms to medium-conservative firms and decreases when moving further to high-conservative firms. Overall, the results of the paper lend empirical support to the theoretical underpinnings of Watts (2003a) who, on the one hand, report a number of arguments in favor of conservatism but, on the other hand, questions the practice of excessive conservative reporting as being a potential cause of the distortion of the earnings-returns relation.

Suggested Citation

  • Kousenidis, Dimitrios V. & Ladas, Anestis C. & Negakis, Christos I., 2009. "Value relevance of conservative and non-conservative accounting information," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 219-238, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:accoun:v:44:y:2009:i:3:p:219-238
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    Cited by:

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    2. Carmen- Alexandra BALTARIU, 2015. "The Current State Of Knowledge In The Value Relevance Research Field," SEA - Practical Application of Science, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 7, pages 13-20, April.
    3. Manganaris, Panayotis & Spathis, Charalambos & Dasilas, Apostolos, 2015. "The effects of mandatory IFRS adoption and conditional conservatism on European bank values," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 72-81.
    4. Mohammad Hamed Khan Mohammadi & Forough Heyrani & Nezam Golestani, 2013. "Impact of Conservatism on the Accounting Information Quality and Decision Making of the Shareholders and the Firms Listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 3(3), pages 186-197, July.
    5. Dimitropoulos, Panagiotis E. & Asteriou, Dimitrios & Kousenidis, Dimitrios & Leventis, Stergios, 2013. "The impact of IFRS on accounting quality: Evidence from Greece," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 108-123.
    6. Pierre Thijssen, Maximiliaan Willem & Iatridis, George Emmanuel, 2016. "Conditional conservatism and value relevance of financial reporting: A study in view of converging accounting standards," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 48-70.
    7. Lavinia Minodora Takacs, 2012. "The Value Relevance Of Earnings In A Transition Economy: Evidence From Romanian Stock Market," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 1(14), pages 1-8.
    8. 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.
    9. Chen-Yin Kuo, 2018. "Are the forecast errors of stock prices related to the degree of accounting conservatism?," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 8(6), pages 1-9.

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