| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 會計學研究所 === 103 === The idea that culture is a central ingredient of economic development goes back to at least Max Weber who argued that the Protestant ethic of Calvinism was a very powerful force behind the development of capitalism in its early phases. Weber saw culture as the driving force behind differences in economic development. Many other scholars have made similar arguments in recent years. How do these customary beliefs (culture) impact economic and financial choices？ Cross-country differences in values, beliefs, norms and managerial behavioral patterns established in people’s minds and reflected in culture could provide a possible explanation for cross-country differences in the application of financial accounting theory and accounting practices. A firm’s incumbent auditor or accounting report choices are affected by its social, cultural, political, legal, and economic environment. Since it is virtually impossible to consider all of these factors in one project, this thesis focuses on the effects of cross-country cultural differences on earnings conservatism. Using theory and empirical data from social psychology to measure for cultural differences between countries, we study the effect of cultural score as defined by Hofstede, Hofstede, and Minkov (2010). We find the national cultural differences are relevant to explain earnings conservatism behavior.
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