Academic literature on the topic 'International Accounting Standards International Financial Reporting Standards International Financial Reporting Standards'

This study is on implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by reporting entities in Nigeria. Since Nigeria adopted IFRS in 2010, managers of reporting entities have been confronted with organizational changes both in the structures and processes of financial reporting. Previous studies have not assessed the claims that adopting IFRS improves the quality of financial reports and managerial efficiency. This study evaluated the assertion that IFRS adoption impacts the quality of financial reports, operational costs, and operational efficiencies of management. The theoretical frameworks which undergirded the study were theories of organizational behaviors and attitudinal change. Data were collected via a stratified sampling of 520 respondents who completed a 5-point Likert scale, which has a long history of reliability and usage in social science research. This study adopted a documentary review of financial statements before and after IFRS implementation to evaluate how IFRS adoption affected them. Logistic regression was used to test the main effects of IFRS adoption as independent variable to predict managerial efficiency as outcome variable. The study found statistically significant improvement in the quality of financial reporting and managerial efficiency following IFRS adoption. Participants' perceptions about IFRS measured on the attitudes scale did not significantly predict managerial efficiency, however, and the cost and benefit of implementing IFRS had no significant relationship with managerial efficiency. The study has positive social change implications as its findings, when implemented, may lead to more efficient company management, business expansion, improved government accounting oversight, more job opportunities, and reduced crime rates.

This thesis studies the way the profession, key actors and other users perceive the use of IFRSs in Greece. The focus is mainly on providing evidence of perceptions towards the transition and implementation process, the way financial statements are used, what challenges are encountered and the recognised benefits after the adoption of IFRSs. The thesis explores the views of actual users about the usefulness of financial reports relating to the impact of IFRSs in an economy with different institutional infrastructures and accounting tradition from the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ model. It provides a critical perspective on the understanding of actors’ experience and interpretation of accounting change and challenges unquestioned beliefs and taken-for-granted assumptions surrounding the adoption of IFRSs. Drawing on a historical and political economy analysis of (inter)national accounting standard-setting and practices the driving rationale behind actors’ views is investigated. Gramsci’s conceptual vocabulary is utilised in order to encourage a theoretical insight into the empirical material. Empirical evidence has been gathered through interviews with key individuals in the implementation and establishment of IFRSs and secondary data, such as public statements, policies and the IASB’s exposure drafts and comments. The impact of IFRSs is evident in areas of measurement and disclosure while the user groups that make meaningful use of IFRSs’ financial information is narrow. The identified benefits of IFRSs in terms of the usefulness of financial information feature great similarity and consensus among local key actors. However, there are still challenges in the implementation and interpretation of IFRSs hindering the accomplishment of the IASB’s pronouncements in regard to the benefits of the standards. IFRSs convergence seems to improve over time. The state exerts significant influence over accounting practices and taxation considerations are generally considered as inhibiting compliance with IFRSs. It appears that there is a shift in the perceptions and beliefs of key individuals about the role of financial reporting in line with the neo-liberal shift in the rationale of IFRSs as promoted by standard-setters and dominant capital economies. The thesis challenges the position purported by standard setters that the adoption of IFRSs is a necessity driven by the natural forces of economic globalisation and that it results in improved decision usefulness of financial statements. There is more to financial reporting quality and comparability than imposing a common set of standards. Despite the inconsistencies in the application of IFRSs and the contradictions in actors’ views about the actual benefits of IFRSs, this has not led them to challenge the basic assumptions and hegemonic structures inherent in the domain of accounting and capital markets.

This dissertation consists of three separate, but related, studies on the institutionalization of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The first study examines the relationship between the national variables and the level of IFRS adoption. Theoretical insights regarding the level of national IFRS adoption come from the world-level institutional theory (Meyer et. al., 1997). Archival data are utilized for the study. The findings indicate that countries with weaker national governance structures and lower economic development demonstrate the highest level of commitment to IFRS. Nationalism was found to influence the extent of adoption. The study contributes to IFRS adoption literature by recognizing the multi-level possibilities of IFRS adoption and discovering the factors that drive the degree of IFRS adoption on a national level. The second study examines the ongoing change in the U.S. accounting regulation related to IFRS. The specific event investigated is an historic ruling by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made in 2007 to accept IFRS filings from foreign issuers. This move toward acceptance of IFRS by the primary U.S. regulator is of academic interest because it represents an opportunity to study regulatory institutional change. The event is analyzed using a qualitative study of the rhetoric found in the comment letters submitted to the SEC. The following theoretical frameworks were used to interpret the qualitative findings: a model of institutional change (Greenwood et. al., 2002), the role of rhetoric in legitimating institutional change (Suddaby & Greenwood, 2005), and the agents of change model (Djelic & Quack, 2003b). The conversation of opponents and proponents through the comment letters revealed the struggle of the participants to legitimize their positions. As expected, rhetorical themes associated with the moral and pragmatic legitimacy of their positions were utilized. Unexpectedly, the shifting site of regulation and the related power of SEC were troubling for proponents and opponents of the change. The study contributes to transnational accounting regulation literature in a number of ways. It presents a synthesis of different theoretical perspectives to investigate institutional change in accounting regulation. It also deepens the understanding of how institutional change is theorized by evaluating the rhetoric of domestic, foreign, and transnational participants. The third study evaluates the diffusion of IFRS in developing countries, using the specific case of Russia. The study investigates whether individual perceptions of various aspects of financial reporting and reforms are associated with IFRS adoption. Particularly of interest is whether there are differences between voluntary adopters and those for which adoption was mandated. The data were obtained from a 2007 survey exploring Russia s transition to IFRS. In general, adopters had a more positive view of transition toward IFRS and financial reforms in Russia. Further, the perceptions of reforms by adopters did not vary based on whether the adoption was required by a national or a foreign mandate. The study contributes both theoretically and empirically to the literature on IFRS in developing countries. Taken together, these three studies focus on issues that have not been addressed previously in the accounting literature. They will advance the international accounting literature on factors related to IFRS adoption, regulations, and influences.<br>Ph.D.<br>Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting<br>Business Administration<br>Business Administration PhD

<p> The excessive cost of the transitioning from the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is a vital business challenge. Based on the transaction cost economics (TCE) theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies that some of the organizational financial professionals use to minimize excessive transition costs from GAAP to IFRS accounting systems. Data were collected from 3 financial professionals of a corporation located in the west coast region of Northern California using semistructured interviews, besides reviewed public records, and studies of developed countries that adopted IFRS. Using the thematic analysis approach, 4 themes emerged, (a) strategic planning and strategy, (b) strategies formulation, implementation, and evaluation, (c) contract negotiation and enforcement, and (d) information system and project cost. The findings of this study could add practical knowledge of focused and consistent actions to IFRS adoption strategies, which could give priority to reducing the costs of the transaction from implementing GAAP to IFRS in local firms&rsquo; financial reporting. The implications for positive social changes could include the potential to enhance knowledge of financial reporting, motivate investments, increase economic resources, and improve local employment growth.</p><p>