1 On the Relation between Financial Reporting Quality and Country Attributes: Research Challenges and Opportunities Helena Isidro Instituto Universitário de Lisboa ISCTE-IUL, Avenida das Forças Armadas, 1649-026, Lisboa, Portugal. Email: helena.isidro@iscte-iul.pt Dhananjay Nanda Miami Business School, 5250 University Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33146. Email: d.nanda@miami.edu Peter Wysocki Questrom School of Business, Boston University, 595 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215. Email: wysockip@bu.edu Abstract We provide new evidence on the co-dependence among the many country attributes previously linked to financial reporting quality. First, we show that the synchronicity of 21 changing country attributes spikes surrounding mandatory IFRS adoption. Thus, while IFRS adoption “explains” increased reporting quality, this finding disappears after including other changing country determinants of reporting quality. Second, a single underlying factor distills the numerous reporting quality measures used in the international literature. Finally, we document that four underlying country factors largely subsume the individual explanatory power of 72 candidate country attributes in explaining reporting quality levels across countries. We conclude with implications and suggestions for future research on international reporting quality. Keywords: Accounting quality, Co-dependence, Financial reporting, International accounting, IFRS adoption, Country attributes. JEL classification: F30; G15; K22; M41 Acknowledgements: We wish to thank Laurence Van Lent (editor) and two anonymous referees for very helpful comments and suggestions. We also acknowledge the helpful comments of S.P. Kothari (discussant) and workshop participants at the University of Miami, University of Houston, Boston University, the 2016 London Business School Accounting Symposium, the 2016 EAA annual congress, the 2016 American Accounting Association (AAA) Annual meeting, the 2016 Global Issues in Accounting Conference, and the 2017 AAA Financial Accounting and Reporting Section. Helena Isidro gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Fulbright Foundation and the Portuguese Science Foundation project UID/GES/00315/2019. An earlier version of this study was circulated under the title “Financial Reporting Differences Around the World: What Matters?” Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3383429