<![CDATA[Purpose: This study examines how accounting conservatism, firm size, and earnings persistence are associated with earnings quality in Indonesian food and beverage firms during 2021-2024, a period of post-pandemic operating adjustment.Methods: Using audited annual-report data from 50 purposively selected IDX-listed firms (200 firm-year observations), the study estimates an accrual-based model after the documented data-screening process. Earnings quality is proxied by signed Modified Jones discretionary accruals, conservatism by the Givoly-Hayn accrual measure, size by logged total assets, and persistence by an autoregressive earnings coefficient.Results: Conservatism and firm size are negatively associated with discretionary accruals (p < .001), which indicates higher quality under the study’s inverse proxy. Persistence is not significant (p = .704). The joint model is significant, but its high explanatory power requires caution because the principal measures contain related accrual information.Limitations: The evidence is sector-specific, uses signed discretionary accruals, relies on a short persistence window, and inherits the source thesis’s undocumented case-level rule for the 14 outlier exclusions. The observational design supports association rather than causal inference.Conclusions: Prudential recognition and organizational scale correspond to lower discretionary accruals, whereas persistence does not explain this accrual-based quality proxy. The results support stronger review of accrual judgments and internal controls, especially when interpreting stable earnings during recovery periods.Contributions: Theoretically, this study extends contemporary agency theory and positive accounting theory by explaining how accounting conservatism and firm size relate to earnings quality. Practically, it provides insights for improving financial reporting transparency and strengthening internal controls.]]>
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