Accounting conservatism and income smoothing practices in EU food and drink industry

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the application of the fundamental principle of accounting conservatism within the EU food and drink industry. Furthermore, the authors would also investigate in-depth the above relationship in two different subsamples (income smoothers and non-income smoothers). Design/methodology/approach All EU-listed companies of the food and drink industry were identified covering the year 2019. Eckel's model was used to classify listed companies as smoothing or non-smoothing, and Basu's model was adopted to test the degree of conditional conservatism. Findings The results indicate that conservatism is strongly present in food and drink industry and also in its subindustries. We also showed that non-smoothing firms had higher levels of conditional conservatism in terms of more opportunity to recognize future economic losses because the market could use the stock return data to anticipate future losses contained in the information regarding profits. Research limitations/implications One limitation of this work is the small size of the investigated companies. The authors demonstrate that the likely increased use of conservatism produces better credibility in the EU markets. Practical implications indicate a higher degree of monitoring of the accounting practices adopted by firms. Regulators have to set accounting policies to enhance the quality of the informational environment, investors and shareholders might exercise control over executives' decisions, and lenders might impose contractual clauses requiring the timely disclosure of “bad news.” Originality/value This industry is “belted” from any external speculations. This research made it possible also to observe theoretical relationships between the financial information provided by the EU food and drink industry that contributes to the market distinction between smoothers and non-smoothers.