Financial reporting conservatism enjoys a long-standing place of prominence in accounting principles and practices. Its prevailing influence justifies the considerable attention conservatism has, and continues to receive in accounting research. A growing body of recent research suggests that, in time series, financial reporting has become more conservative. Whilst this evidence is intuitive on a number of levels, the notion of conservatism appears to be incongruent with the continual spate of corporate collapses that plague our financial world and the outward rejection of conservatism as a desirable qualitative characteristic of financial reporting by Australian and U.S. standard setters. Existing empirical research indicates that conservatism continues to be evident in accounting and serves a positive function in contracting efficiencies with evidence, inter alia, of conservatism mitigating agency conflicts and therefore reducing the cost of debt and improving corporate governance (Watts 2003a). However, little evidence exists regarding its economic consequences in terms of its impact on the cost of equity capital. This thesis empirically examines the relationship between conservatism and the cost of equity capital under a framework supported by Signalling Theory rather than Agency (Contracting) Theory, consistent with the theoretical propositions modelled by Gietzmann and Trombetta (2003) and Bagnoli and Watts (2005). The primary research question of this thesis explores the influence of conservatism on the cost of equity capital and thus asks if the firm’s decision to adopt conservative reporting practices has economic consequences. At the same time, research has seen a plethora of studies that investigate the capital market impacts of the firm’s disclosure policy. Existing empirical research provides evidence in part indicating that the cost of equity capital is reducing in disclosure levels, however, existing empirical research does not provide evidence on how conservatism and disclosure interact. Therefore, the second research question seeks to explore this interaction and investigates the conditional influence of disclosure on the primary relationship between conservatism and the cost of equity capital. Using a sample of U.S. listed entities for the period 1984 to 1994, this thesis investigates the individual (unconditional) and joint (conditional) impact of conservatism and disclosure on the cost of equity capital. The thesis makes several contributions. First, the findings provide considerable new evidence in support of the prediction that the cost of equity capital is decreasing in the level of conservatism. Consistent with the theoretical propositions in Gietzmann and Trombetta (2003) and Bagnoli and Watts (2005), it is argued that by signalling of firm quality through adoption of conservative reporting practices, firms have the ability to reduce non-diversifiable firm-specific information risk and hence will benefit from a resulting decrease in the cost of equity capital. Second, this thesis re-examines the relationship between disclosure and the cost of equity capital with evidence indicating that the cost of equity capital is decreasing in the disclosure level as measured by the comprehensive disclosure score. Third, this thesis explores new ground in its investigation of the interaction between conservatism and disclosure and their joint influence on the cost of equity capital. The findings provide considerable support for the prediction that the value of conservatism is diminished in environments of low information asymmetry (high disclosure). It is conjectured that because there is little private information in environments of low information asymmetry, there are no signalling benefits to be gained. Finally, the results provide consistent evidence of an inverse relationship between conservatism and disclosure. The findings suggest that conservatism and disclosure are therefore strategy substitutes in the overall reporting strategy. The findings of this thesis provide considerable support for the benefits of conservatism and provide a further explanation for the continued observation of conservatism evidenced in prior empirical research. Further, the findings provide support for the conjecture that conservatism and disclosure each have a role to play in the financial reporting strategy of the firm. Overall, the findings of thesis provide new evidence indicating that the firm’s decision to adopt conservative reporting practices has the potential to reap real economic benefit in terms of reduction in the cost of equity capital and that conservatism has a positive role in accounting principles and practices.

Financial reporting conservatism enjoys a long-standing place of prominence in accounting principles and practices. Its prevailing influence justifies the considerable attention conservatism has, and continues to receive in accounting research. A growing body of recent research suggests that, in time series, financial reporting has become more conservative. Whilst this evidence is intuitive on a number of levels, the notion of conservatism appears to be incongruent with the continual spate of corporate collapses that plague our financial world and the outward rejection of conservatism as a desirable qualitative characteristic of financial reporting by Australian and U.S. standard setters. Existing empirical research indicates that conservatism continues to be evident in accounting and serves a positive function in contracting efficiencies with evidence, inter alia, of conservatism mitigating agency conflicts and therefore reducing the cost of debt and improving corporate governance (Watts 2003a). However, little evidence exists regarding its economic consequences in terms of its impact on the cost of equity capital. This thesis empirically examines the relationship between conservatism and the cost of equity capital under a framework supported by Signalling Theory rather than Agency (Contracting) Theory, consistent with the theoretical propositions modelled by Gietzmann and Trombetta (2003) and Bagnoli and Watts (2005). The primary research question of this thesis explores the influence of conservatism on the cost of equity capital and thus asks if the firm’s decision to adopt conservative reporting practices has economic consequences. At the same time, research has seen a plethora of studies that investigate the capital market impacts of the firm’s disclosure policy. Existing empirical research provides evidence in part indicating that the cost of equity capital is reducing in disclosure levels, however, existing empirical research does not provide evidence on how conservatism and disclosure interact. Therefore, the second research question seeks to explore this interaction and investigates the conditional influence of disclosure on the primary relationship between conservatism and the cost of equity capital. Using a sample of U.S. listed entities for the period 1984 to 1994, this thesis investigates the individual (unconditional) and joint (conditional) impact of conservatism and disclosure on the cost of equity capital. The thesis makes several contributions. First, the findings provide considerable new evidence in support of the prediction that the cost of equity capital is decreasing in the level of conservatism. Consistent with the theoretical propositions in Gietzmann and Trombetta (2003) and Bagnoli and Watts (2005), it is argued that by signalling of firm quality through adoption of conservative reporting practices, firms have the ability to reduce non-diversifiable firm-specific information risk and hence will benefit from a resulting decrease in the cost of equity capital. Second, this thesis re-examines the relationship between disclosure and the cost of equity capital with evidence indicating that the cost of equity capital is decreasing in the disclosure level as measured by the comprehensive disclosure score. Third, this thesis explores new ground in its investigation of the interaction between conservatism and disclosure and their joint influence on the cost of equity capital. The findings provide considerable support for the prediction that the value of conservatism is diminished in environments of low information asymmetry (high disclosure). It is conjectured that because there is little private information in environments of low information asymmetry, there are no signalling benefits to be gained. Finally, the results provide consistent evidence of an inverse relationship between conservatism and disclosure. The findings suggest that conservatism and disclosure are therefore strategy substitutes in the overall reporting strategy. The findings of this thesis provide considerable support for the benefits of conservatism and provide a further explanation for the continued observation of conservatism evidenced in prior empirical research. Further, the findings provide support for the conjecture that conservatism and disclosure each have a role to play in the financial reporting strategy of the firm. Overall, the findings of thesis provide new evidence indicating that the firm’s decision to adopt conservative reporting practices has the potential to reap real economic benefit in terms of reduction in the cost of equity capital and that conservatism has a positive role in accounting principles and practices.