Business Strategy, Accounting Conservatism and Performance

Abstract

This research consists with prior business strategy typology and accounting conservatism theories. It investigates the joint effect of business strategy and accounting conservatism on the firm’s financial performance. The paper finds that accounting conservatism as a prudent accounting reporting principle plays an important corporate governance mechanism. The conservatism can mitigate the negative effect of the aggressive business strategy. The joint effect between business strategy and accounting conservatism is positively related with financial performance. The result is robustness when the different measurements of the strategy and the conservatism are applied. When the firm has weak internal control quality, the joint effect on financial performance also exists significantly.