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Political Uncertainty and Accounting Conservatism

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  • Lili Dai
  • Phong Ngo

Abstract

Political uncertainty leads to greater information asymmetry among contracting parties to the firm, resulting in an increased demand for accounting conservatism. Exploiting the exogenous variation in political uncertainty induced by the U.S. gubernatorial election cycle over the period 1963–2016, we find that the asymmetric timeliness of news recognition increases with political uncertainty. Our political uncertainty hypothesis operates through the contracting demand channel. Accordingly, we find that the political uncertainty effect is more pronounced for firms in states with lower electoral participation, for firms with greater industry exposures to contracting needs, for firms with higher leverage and lower managerial ownership, and for firms with stronger internal corporate governance mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Lili Dai & Phong Ngo, 2021. "Political Uncertainty and Accounting Conservatism," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 277-307, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:30:y:2021:i:2:p:277-307
    DOI: 10.1080/09638180.2020.1760117
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    Cited by:

    1. Ahmad, Muhammad Farooq & Aziz, Saqib & El-Khatib, Rwan & Kowalewski, Oskar, 2023. "Firm-level political risk and dividend payout," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Chen, Yanyan, 2022. "Does political turnover affect corporate investment? Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PA).
    3. Mahmud Hossain & Gerald J. Lobo & Santanu Mitra, 2023. "Firm-level political risk and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 295-327, January.
    4. Shehub Bin Hasan & Md Samsul Alam & Sudharshan Reddy Paramati & Md Shahidul Islam, 2022. "Does firm-level political risk affect cash holdings?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 311-337, July.
    5. Dang, Man & Henry, Darren & Thai, Hong An & Vo, Xuan Vinh & Mazur, Mieszko, 2022. "Does policy uncertainty predict the death of M&A deals?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    6. Ahmed Marhfor & Kais Bouslah & Abdelmajid Hmaittane, 2022. "Does Firm Political Risk Affect the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Value?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-23, September.
    7. Cui, Xin & Ma, Tingting & Xie, Xiaochen & Goodell, John W., 2023. "Uncertainty of uncertainty and accounting conservatism," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    8. Die Wu & Hafeezullah Memon, 2022. "Public Pressure, Environmental Policy Uncertainty, and Enterprises’ Environmental Information Disclosure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-18, June.
    9. Hanwen Chen & Siyi Liu & Xin Liu & Jiani Wang, 2022. "Opportunistic timing of management earnings forecasts during the COVID‐19 crisis in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1495-1533, April.
    10. Theodora Bermpei & Antonios Nikolaos Kalyvas & Lorenzo Neri & Antonella Russo, 2022. "Does economic policy uncertainty matter for financial reporting quality? Evidence from the United States," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 795-845, February.
    11. Sun, Zeyu & Yang, Ge & Bai, Haichen, 2023. "The spillover effect of customers' financial risk on suppliers' conservative reporting: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

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