Influence of National Culture on Accounting Conservatism and Risk-Taking in the Banking Industry

• Main Authors: KIRIDARAN, Kanagaretn, LIM, Chee Yeow, LOBO, Gerald J.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2014
• Subjects: national culture; accounting conservatism; risk-taking; individualism; uncertainty avoidance; banking; Accounting; Finance and Financial Management
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soa_research/1112; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soa_research/article/2111/viewcontent/SSRN_id2319548.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Using an international sample of banks and country-level indices for individualism and uncertainty avoidance as proxies for national culture, we study how differences in culture across countries affect accounting conservatism and bank risk-taking. Consistent with expectations, our cross-country analysis indicates that individualism is negatively (positively) related to conservatism (risk-taking) and uncertainty avoidance is positively (negatively) related to conservatism (risk-taking). We also find that cultures that encourage higher risk-taking experienced more bank failures and bank troubles during the recent financial crisis.