Comparative analysis of accounting information quality amongst French, Brazilian and Latin American companies

Abstract

Purpose: This work aimed to compare the Accounting Information Quality (AIQ) of publicly traded companies in markets with different levels of economic development, represented by France, Brazil and other Latin American countries (these together). Methodology: The methodological approach was quantitative, using descriptive and exploratory statistics, and regression with unbalanced panel data. The data used encompassed the following periods: between 1987 and 2017, for the French market; between 1995 and 2017, for the Brazilian market; and between 1989 and 2015, for the Latin American market. Results: The results pointed to structural differences in AIQ in financial statements between the markets analyzed, indicating that the more developed market has better AIQ. Contributions of the Study: As a practical contribution, this research can support investor decisions, while the academic knowledge generated reveals that markets in different economic contexts have different levels of AIQ.

Keywords

• capital markets. earnings persistence. price relevance. accounting information quality.