The effect of cost stickiness on the estimation of accounting conservatism by considering the effect of the company's life cycle

Recent studies show two important factors in the nonlinear behavior of cost and profit. The first factor is cost stickiness, which expresses economic asymmetry in the reaction of cost to increase and decrease in sales. The second factor is related to accounting conservatism, which indicates the asymmetry of financial reporting in identifying good news versus bad news. Although conservatism and cost stickiness are conceptually based on two different and separate phenomena, but they create two similar patterns in the temporal asymmetry of profits. This study examines the relationship between cost stickiness, levels of conservatism and firm life cycle. In this research, by using the combined data technique and by using three models of non-operating accrual items, Basu's model and market value model, and with a sample consisting of 113 companies admitted in the Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2010-2019, this goal has been investigated.The research results indicate that the stickiness of costs is related to conservatism in all three models. The findings of the research show that in the growth stage between cost stickiness and conservatism of companies, there is a significant negative relationship in all three models, of which Basu's model has more explanatory power. In the maturity stage, there is a negative and significant relationship between the stickiness of costs and the conservatism of companies in the Basu's model and non-operating accruals, but no significant relationship has been observed in the market value model. In the recession stage, the effect of cost stickiness on the reduction of conservatism is significant only based on the market value model. Finally, in the decline stage, no significant relationship was found in any of the three models.