Prior studies suggest the importance of accounting enforcement by providing evidence that there is a mutually dependent relationship between financial reporting standards and enforcement mechanisms. In the same context, this thesis complements previous literature and examines the role of accounting enforcement as a possible determinant in improving accounting information quality and, as a result, mitigating information asymmetry. My thesis comprises three empirical studies, using international data that exploits countries using the same set of accounting standards (IFRS) that have different levels of accounting enforcement, together with introductory and concluding material. Chapter 3 investigates the association between accounting enforcement and accounting information quality in the form of accounting comparability. It separately examines within-country and cross-country accounting comparability. The empirical results suggest that the enforcement of accounting standards is associated with higher levels of accounting comparability of financial reports. In a similar vein, chapter 4 assess the relationship between accounting enforcement and accounting information quality via another accounting information characteristic, namely asymmetric timeliness. The findings suggest that the enforcement of accounting standards across countries is positively associated with the level of asymmetric timeliness. Given the increase in accounting information qualities documented in chapter 3 and 4, chapter 5 further investigates whether accounting enforcement is incrementally important in explaining investment efficiency across countries, where investment efficiency is thought to partially be a consequence of information asymmetry. The results suggest that the higher the level of enforcement of accounting standards, the higher the level of investment efficiency. The findings in my thesis contribute to the literature by providing more evidence, and shedding more light, on the potential benefits of accounting enforcement.
Date of Award | 31 Dec 2021 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | - The University of Manchester
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Supervisor | Andrew Stark (Supervisor) & Wei Jiang (Supervisor) |
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- Accounting Enforcement
- Accounting Comparability
- Asymmetric Timeliness
- Investment Efficiency
THREE STUDIES ON ACCOUNTING ENFORCEMENT
Nareswari, P. (Author). 31 Dec 2021
Student thesis: Phd