The Role of Accounting Conservatism in Firms' Achievement of Target Financial Leverage

According to trade off theory, firms check their capital structure in case of deviation from the optimal structure or a goal to achieve their target structure, and these adjustments has different speed in various firms. In this research, the relationship of accounting conservatism in the adjustment of capital structure of firms has been investigated. To conduct this research, 98 listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange were used during the period of 2002 to 2022. The research results show that conservatism can play an important role in accelerating the adjustment of capital structure of firms. Also, the results of this research indicate that large and profitable firms have a longer period of time to adjust their capital structure and achieve the target capital structure if they use external sources for financing due to their less desire for external financing. In other words, the large and profitable firms have a lower adjustment speed.