Using three different measures of conservatism, we document that (i) the percentage of inside
directors is negatively related to conservatism, and (ii) the percentage of outside directors’
shareholdings is positively related to conservatism. Our results hold after controlling for industry,
firm size, leverage, growth opportunities, institutional ownership, inside director ownership, and
unobservable firm characteristics that are stable over time. Overall, the evidence is consistent with
accounting conservatism assisting directors in reducing agency costs of firms.