The impact of culture on accountants` professional judgements in the banking industry : the case of Tunisian an Malaysian accountants

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of national culture on accountants’ application of financial reporting rules. In particular, this study examines the extent to which Malaysian and Tunisian accountants differ in applying their professional judgments to contingencies. In the light of the IAS 37:’Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets’ accountants directly involved in the financial reporting process in commercial banks in Tunisia and Malaysia were asked to make an accounting professional judgment related to contingent assets and contingent liabilities recognition and disclosure. Based on Gray’s (1988) accounting and culture framework, this study developed two hypotheses to test the conservatism and secrecy levels of the two groups of participants. This study hypothesized that Malaysian accountants would be more likely to recognize contingent liabilities and less likely to recognize contingent assets (more conservative) than Tunisian accountants (H1). It also hypothesizes that Malaysian accountants would be more likely to disclose the existence of contingent assets and contingent liabilities in the notes of the financial statements (more secretive) than Tunisian accountants (H2). Based on responses of 56 Tunisian accountants and 49 Malaysian accountants, the study performed a univariate regression analysis to test the two hypotheses. The study found partial support for the conservatism hypothesis (H1). This is where Malaysian accountants were more likely to recognize both contingent assets and contingent liabilities than Tunisian accountants. The results do not support the secrecy hypothesis H2. Contrary to expectations, Tunisian accountant were less likely to disclose contingent assets and contingent liabilities (i.e., were more secretive) than Malaysian accountants. Overall, the study did not find that culture has a strong impact on Malaysian and Tunisian accountants’ professional judgments related to contingency recognition and disclosure. Furthermore, an evaluation of participants’ mean of recognition and disclosure judgments revealed that no significant difference existed between the two sample groups’ decisions. This is considered as good news for the implementation of an international financial reporting standard which promotes the international accounting harmonization. This may also support the IASB’s objective of enhancing a greater cross-cultural financial statements’ comparability.