This study examines the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and accounting conservatism in Malaysian firms, with a specific focus on how management risk disclosure moderates this relationship. Given the importance of financial transparency and investor confidence, the study aims to assess whether corporate governance mechanisms and risk disclosure influence accounting conservatism in Malaysian firms, particularly during periods of economic uncertainty. The study employs an empirical approach using financial data from 736 Malaysian listed companies for the year 2020, a period marked by the COVID-19 crisis. The Khan and Watts (J Account Econ 48(2–3):132–150, 2009) C_Score model is utilized to measure accounting conservatism. This study employed a cross-sectional statistical analysis. The results indicate that corporate governance mechanisms such as board independence and audit committee independence positively influence accounting conservatism. However, CEO duality and multiple directorships show mixed effects. Management risk disclosure significantly strengthens the relationship between governance quality and conservative financial reporting, suggesting that firms providing higher-quality risk disclosures are more likely to adopt conservative accounting practices. This finding underscores the need for conservative reporting in keeping the stakeholders confident during high-risk times. This study extends the literature by integrating management risk disclosure as a moderating factor in the corporate governance-accounting conservatism nexus. While previous research has examined the direct relationship between governance structures and conservatism, this study provides novel insights into how risk disclosure enhances governance effectiveness under crisis period (Covid-19).