Relevance of accounting information and national culture

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of cultural differences on the relevance of accounting information. The sample comprised 15,902 companies listed in the 30 countries with the highest Gross Domestic Product, in the period 2015-2017, totaling 47,706 observations. In order to achieve the goal of this study, descriptive statistics, cluster analysis and multiple linear regression were used. The results show that the relevance of accounting information is more accentuated in firms located in countries with cultural characteristics that are farther from power, more collectivist, with less aversion to uncertainty, greater femininity, and greater complacency. In turn, the cultural dimension of long-term orientation has not shown consistent results. It is concluded that the cultural dimensions of the countries interfere in the attribution of the relevance granted by the capital market to the accounting information produced by the companies.