Earnings restatements and differential timeliness of accounting conservatism

► Researchers have challenged the reliability of Basu's (1997) measure of conservatism. ► We investigate this issue using a sample of 2132 companies that overstate earnings. ► Basu's metric detects differences in conservatism surrounding corrections of overstatements. ► Increases in conservatism following restatements are contingent on improvements in governance. ► These results provide evidence of the usefulness of the Basu-based metric in our setting.