Title: The association between accounting information and share prices in developing countries: does corruption matter?

Authors: Michael Deterding; Marius Gros

Addresses: Faculty of Business Studies and Economics, University of Bremen, Enrique-Schmidt-Str. 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany ' Hochschule Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, Reinarzstr. 49, 47805 Krefeld, Germany

Abstract: The extant value relevance literature documents that the association between accounting information and share prices differs from country to country. Numerous studies attempt to explain the observed differences and identify their determinants, such as the system of corporate governance, the level of shareholder protection, or differences in accounting standards. To date, there is no paper that explicitly addresses the influence of a country's state of development and the level of corruption on the value relevance of accounting information. We fill this gap, as our analysis indicates that accounting information is more value relevant in less developed countries and in countries with high levels of corruption. We argue that in developing countries with high levels of corruption, capital market participants rely in particular on accounting information to compensate for a lack of reliable alternative information sources.

Keywords: value relevance; state of development; corruption; developing countries.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEA.2021.116691

International Journal of Economics and Accounting, 2021 Vol.10 No.3, pp.321 - 339

Received: 26 Apr 2020
Accepted: 09 Jul 2020
Published online: 29 Jul 2021 *

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