A study on relationship between cultural values and earnings quality: A case study on Iranian banking indus

This performs an empirical investigation to evaluate the relationship between cultural values and earnings quality in some Iranian banks over the period 2005-2011. The individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance and masculinity dimensions are regarded as criteria for cultural values. The study also considers change in return on assets and loan loss provisions as the main criteria for earnings quality of banks. For measuring the cultural values, the questionnaire of Hofstede [Hofstede, G. (1994). The business of international business is culture. International business review, 3(1), 1-14.]. The study also uses two measures to calculate earnings quality: 1-just-meet-or-beat the prior year’s earnings and 2- Income smoothing through loan loss provisions based on compound linear regression. Research results showed that there was a weak relationship between cultural values and earnings management.