A causal model of country environmental differences on national accounting standards and practices.

Abstract

This paper develops and tests a primary and several subsidiary models that seek to explain differences in the level of conservatism in accounting standards and practices between fifty-one (51) nations, by considering an array of institutional factors. Differences in legal, cultural, economic, financial sector and governmental transparency dimensions among the countries are represented as independent variables in the model. National accounting standards and practices of the 51 countries in our study are expected to be influenced by these variables.