Conclusions
This research examines the determinants of managers’ accounting methods choice for 15 Tanzania companies that are quoted on the DSE, 2005-2008. We draw from positive accounting theory and examine whether firm leverage, size, labour force intensity, ownership dilution, internal financing, and proportion of non-executive directors influence the managers’ choice of accounting policy. We find no relation between leverage and accounting policy choice. The results show, contrary to the political cost hypothesis, that there is a positive relationship between income strategy and company size, indicating that larger companies are more likely to adopt income increasing accounting methods. Labour force intensity is found to be negatively related to income strategy, suggesting that labour intensive companies choose income delaying accounting policies, perhaps to avoid pressure from workers and labour unions demanding high salaries and wages. The relation between the proportion of non-executive directors and income strategy is negative, suggesting that non-executive directors curtail the use of income increasing accounting policies. This seems to suggest that non-executive directors are effective monitors of managerial opportunistic behaviours. Finally, we find that companies that rely on internal financing choose income increasing methods so that they can retain more and show their shareholders that they are profitable.