Confucian culture and accounting conservatism: evidence from China

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of Confucian culture on accounting conservatism. Using a sample of Chinese-listed firms during the period of 2001–2017, our findings reveal that Confucian culture, measured as the number of Confucian temples (schools) within a specific radius around a firm, is significantly positively associated with accounting conservatism, suggesting that Confucian ethics and culture promote accounting conservatism. Moreover, litigation risk attenuates the positive effect of Confucian culture on accounting conservatism. The above findings are robust to a variety of sensitivity tests using alternative proxies for Confucian culture and accounting conservatism. Furthermore, our main conclusions still stand after using the instrumental variable (IV) two-stage regression method and the differential model approach to address the endogeneity issue. Lastly, the positive effect of Confucian culture on accounting conservatism is only valid for non-BIG4-audited firms, firms with lower managerial ownership and firms in highly competitive industries.