Title: Law, religiosity and earnings opacity internationally

Authors: Ahmed Riahi-Belkaoui

Addresses: College of Business Administration, University of Illinois at Chicago, 601 S. Morgan St, Chicago, IL 60607, USA

Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between earnings opacity across 24 countries and elements of law and religiosity. The picture shows earnings opacity is negatively related to both the degree of law enforcement and church attendance. While church attendance was negatively related to earnings opacity, belief in heaven was found to have an insignificant impact. Earnings opacity appears to be associated with the extent of belonging and not on the extent of believing. It is negatively related to the input of the religiosity sector-church attendance and not to the output-belief in heaven. In summary, earnings opacity is negatively related to both the inputs of the law and religion sector – the degree of law enforcement and church attendance.

Keywords: earnings opacity; law; religiosity; law enforcement; church attendance; belief in heaven; religious belief.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAAPE.2004.006358

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, 2004 Vol.1 No.4, pp.493 - 502

Published online: 24 Feb 2005 *

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