Accounting Regulation, Financial Development, and Economic Growth

This paper examines the relationship between accounting regulation, financial development, and economic growth in fifty-one developed and emerging market economies over the period 1997-2009. Accounting regulation has been the center of long-lasting debates in the accounting profession. The debates came to the forefront after several spectacular financial reporting frauds and scandals in the early 2000s damaged public confidence in capital markets. Using generalized method of moments estimation techniques, this study provides evidence that accounting regulation has a strong effect on economic growth even after controlling for a number of macroeconomic and socioeconomic variables.