Policy Uncertainty and Accounting Quality
基于19个国家1990-2015年数据，发现经济政策不确定性上升时会计质量反而提高，这种关系在政府依赖型企业和政治风险高的企业中更明显，且高质量会计能缓解政策不确定性对投资和估值的负面影响。
ABSTRACT Using data from 19 countries over the 1990–2015 period, we examine how economic policy uncertainty (EPU) affects accounting quality. We find that accounting quality, measured based on Nikolaev's (2018) model, increases during periods of high policy uncertainty. This relation is confirmed by the negative association between EPU and performance-adjusted discretionary accruals in a multivariate setting, and it extends to various alternative measures of earnings properties. We also find that the positive relation between EPU and accounting quality is more pronounced for government-dependent firms and firms with higher political risk. Additional analyses based on institutional investors' trading behavior, media freedom, and press circulation suggest that market participants' attention is a mechanism through which EPU affects accounting quality. Further, we find evidence that high accounting quality can mitigate the negative effects of EPU on corporate investment and valuation. Data Availability: All data are publicly available from sources indicated in the text.