Exploring accounting conservatism: a comprehensive review and current landscape

Purpose This article aims to provide a deeper understanding of accounting conservatism literature through an extensive literature review with the aid of bibliometric analysis. It also proposes specific research questions for future studies within particular themes in this domain. Design/methodology/approach This study analyses a sample of 1,044 documents published between 1994 and 2023. It employs co-citation analysis, cluster analysis, content analysis, keyword analysis, thematic analysis, and a three-field plot to map the intellectual structure of accounting conservatism and classify the literature into four key themes. Findings The cluster and thematic analyses identified four main strands of accounting conservatism literature: information asymmetry, corporate governance, financial factors, and ESG factors. Several important research areas in each of the four domains have been highlighted. The study also outlines various parameters, including authorship, highest cited papers, leading journals, and country-wise publication trends, while highlighting emerging research themes for future scholars. Research limitations/implications The study’s limitations include potential oversimplification by categorizing the vast literature into four themes and inherent shortcomings of the bibliometric analysis technique. Practical implications This study serves as a valuable resource for scholars of accounting conservatism, offering insights into potential collaborations, publication outlets, and scientific output by country while identifying popular keywords, emerging trends, and evolving themes within the domain for future research. Practitioners and regulators can gain a comprehensive understanding of accounting conservatism across various domains, with a particular focus on the interplay between ESG factors and accounting conservatism, which is crucial for future regulatory changes and CSR policies. Originality/value This article presents the first comprehensive bibliometric study on accounting conservatism, including ESG factors and other established themes, and proposes new research areas. The article also analyses a substantial sample of 1,044 studies from both Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) over a 30-year period, making it the first bibliometric study on accounting conservatism to combine both the databases for a comprehensive exploration of the topic.