Conservatism in Financial Reporting: The Relation between Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings and MTB Ratio

In this paper we investigate the relation between asymmetric timeliness of earnings and the market to book ratio by using data of firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The difference between the coefficients of earnings on positive and negative returns is called asymmetric timeliness of earnings. In the accounting literature it is used as a conservatism measure. The recent literature focused on the negative relation between two measures of conservatism: asymmetric timeliness of earnings and the market to book ratio (MTB) in short periods. We expected this relation would be positive when asymmetric timeliness of earnings measured cumulatively over long horizons. The result inconsistent to our predict show negative relation between two measure of conservatism that statistically significant.