[en] In this paper we investigate the relationship between boards of directors’ attributes and conditional accounting conservatism in the French context. Using a pooled regression model to evaluate this relationship for the period 2009-2012, our empirical results can be summarized as follows. Firstly, greater board activity encourages more conservative reporting in financial statements. Secondly, greater board size diminishes conditional accounting conservatism. Lastly, there is a positive relationship between gender diversity and conservatism. To ensure robustness we have calculated our results using alternative measures of accounting conservatism, namely time series and accrual-based measures in addition to asymmetric timeliness of earnings. These findings suggest that boards of directors’ attributes are an important factor in determining the financial reporting quality of French firms.
