Cultural tightness and accounting conservatism

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of intrastate cultural tightness-looseness (CTL) on accounting conservatism, using firms located in 50 states of the United States, from 1988 to 2016. It finds that firms located in culturally tight states prefer to take a cautious approach to reduce uncertainty of future economic events by increasing accounting conservatism compared to those located in culturally loose states. Moreover, we find that the positive effect of cultural tightness on accounting conservatism is more pronounced as product market competition increases. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that intrastate CTL has differential impacts on accounting conservatism in the same national culture, and product competition strategically reinforces the positive effect of CTL on accounting conservatism.