The Financial Reporting Quality of Public Companies: The Cultural Dimension

The factors determining the formation of accounting principles in different countries have long been studied. Cultural conditions have been identified as one of the reasons for national variations. This issue is particularly important when there is an effort to harmonise and standardise accounting principles, in order to create a uniform system, which may be adopted globally. This book explores the impact of cultural conditions on the financial reporting quality of public companies preparing financial statements according to International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It discusses the main trends in the theory of capital and earnings in the economy. The book focuses on the relationship between the cultural dimensions under analysis, such as power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/feminity, strong uncertainty/weak uncertainty, short/ long time orientation and indulgence/restraint, and the properties of the financial results; persistence, predictive value, accrual adjustments and earnings smoothing. It identifies the determinants - cultural conditions that have a statistically material impact, either positive or negative, on various attributes of the quality of the financial results of public companies. The book contains an up-to-date, in-depth description of the financial statements of public companies, across of variety of countries and sectors. The publication is addressed to researchers and students concerned with the functioning of capital markets and financial reporting quality and those who would like to expand their knowledge in the field of behavioural finance, as well as investors in capital markets.

Katarzyna Mokrzycka-Kogut is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Financial Accounting, Cracow University of Economics, Cracow, Poland.