The effect of corruption and culture on mandatory disclosure compliance levels: goodwill reporting in Europe

Mazzi, F., Slack, R. and Tsalavoutas, I. (2018) The effect of corruption and culture on mandatory disclosure compliance levels: goodwill reporting in Europe. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, 31, pp. 52-73. (doi: 10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2018.06.001)

Abstract

While responding to calls for research and regulatory concerns regarding the influence of country level characteristics on the completeness and quality of financial statements, we examine the simultaneous influences of corruption and culture on levels of compliance with mandatory disclosure requirements. We use a panel dataset of European companies, for 2008–2011, and measure compliance with IFRS goodwill disclosure requirements utilising a disclosure index. Corruption is measured using the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and Schwartz (2008) bipolar cultural dimensions are used as measures of culture. We find that compliance levels vary significantly across sample firms, countries and over time. The level of corruption and two of the three cultural dimensions (Hierarchy and Mastery) are significantly related to these levels of compliance. These findings also hold for the changes in compliance levels over time. On that basis, the paper makes original contributions to our understanding of determinants of compliance levels with IFRS mandatory disclosure requirements.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Tsalavoutas, Professor Yannis
• Authors: Mazzi, F., Slack, R., and Tsalavoutas, I.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Accounting and Finance
• Journal Name: Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1061-9518
• ISSN (Online): 1879-1603
• Published Online: 15 June 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc.
• First Published: First published in Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation 31:52-73
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher