The East Asian countries Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand provide rare
insight into the interaction between accounting standards and the incentives of managers and
auditors. Their standards derive from common law sources (UK, US, and IAS) that are widely
viewed as higher quality than code law standards. However, their preparers’ incentives imply
low quality. We show their financial reporting quality is not higher than under code law, with
quality operation alized as timely recognition of economic income (particularly losses).