Effect of business strategy on the financial statement comparability, emphasizing on information asymmetry in listed companies on Tehran Stock Exchange

When competition becomes more intense, the comparability of proprietary costs (business strategy) increases because managers in formulating their competitive strategies, often relate to financial information of their competitors. As a result, the greater the ability to compare, the risk of displaying proprietary information is accelerated through the mandatory disclosure of financial statements. The aim of this research is investigation into the effect of business strategy on the financial statements comparability with an emphasis on the role of information asymmetry.  In this regard, 126 companies were selected for the period of 8 years during 2009 -2017. Collected data were analyzed using Stata statistical software (version 15). The results showed that business strategy (aggressive strategy and defensive strategy) has a positive and negative effect on financial statements comparability, respectively. It was also found that the simultaneous effect of information asymmetry and business strategy (aggressive and defensive strategy) has a negative and positive effect respectively on financial statements comparability.