IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausact/v28y2018i4p468-481.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

International Differences in Accounting Practices Under IFRS and the Influence of the US

Author

Listed:
  • Isabel Costa Lourenço
  • Raquel Sarquis
  • Manuel Castelo Branco
  • Nuno Magro

Abstract

This paper expands prior International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) accounting systems’ classifications to a broader set of 27 countries where IFRS adoption is a widespread practice, as well as the US. It examines the issue of whether a US model of accounting that includes countries which have adopted IFRS exists. The results suggest a classification distinguishing between three groups of countries based on the similarity of their accounting practices: 1) Australia and New Zealand; 2) US‐influenced countries; and 3) South Africa, Oman and European countries. This study contributes to the literature not only by providing evidence of differences in accounting practices to a broader set of countries, but mainly by suggesting an economic explanation of the existence of accounting choices. In particular, economic proximity to the US may be an important factor influencing accounting practices in some countries, even after IFRS adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Costa Lourenço & Raquel Sarquis & Manuel Castelo Branco & Nuno Magro, 2018. "International Differences in Accounting Practices Under IFRS and the Influence of the US," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(4), pages 468-481, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:28:y:2018:i:4:p:468-481
    DOI: 10.1111/auar.12207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/auar.12207
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/auar.12207?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philip Brown, 2013. "Some Observations on Research on the Benefits to Nations of Adopting IFRS," The Japanese Accounting Review, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, vol. 3, pages 1-19, December.
    2. Peter F. Pope & Stuart J. McLeay, 2011. "The European IFRS experiment: objectives, research challenges and some early evidence," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 233-266, August.
    3. Elad, Charles, 2015. "The Development of Accounting in the Franc Zone Countries in Africa," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 75-100.
    4. Ray Ball, 2006. "International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS): pros and cons for investors," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(S1), pages 5-27.
    5. Kwanghee Cho & Kyoung-min Kwon & Han Yi & Yongsuk Yun, 2015. "The Effect of International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption on the Relation Between Earnings Quality and Information Asymmetry in Korea," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(S3), pages 95-117, May.
    6. Ding, Yuan & Jeanjean, Thomas & Stolowy, Herve, 2005. "Reply to discussion of "Why do national GAAP differ from IAS? The role of culture"," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 359-362.
    7. Stella So & Malcolm Smith, 2009. "Value‐relevance of presenting changes in fair value of investment properties in the income statement: Evidence from Hong Kong," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 103-118.
    8. Rodrigues, Lúcia Lima & Schmidt, Paulo & Santos, José Luiz dos, 2012. "The origins of modern accounting in Brazil: Influences leading to the adoption of IFRS," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 15-24.
    9. Black, Bernard S. & de Carvalho, Antonio Gledson & Gorga, Érica, 2012. "What matters and for which firms for corporate governance in emerging markets? Evidence from Brazil (and other BRIK countries)," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 934-952.
    10. Haller, Axel & Wehrfritz, Martin, 2013. "The impact of national GAAP and accounting traditions on IFRS policy selection: Evidence from Germany and the UK," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 39-56.
    11. Oliver N. Okafor & Mark Anderson & Hussein Warsame, 2016. "IFRS and value relevance: evidence based on Canadian adoption," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(2), pages 136-160, April.
    12. Forst, Arno, 2014. "IFRS implementation in the European Union and the survival of accounting families," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 187-195.
    13. Christopher Nobes, 2011. "IFRS Practices and the Persistence of Accounting System Classification," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 47(3), pages 267-283, September.
    14. Ariel Markelevich & Lewis Shaw & Hagit Weihs, 2015. "The Israeli XBRL Adoption Experience," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(2), pages 117-133, June.
    15. Christopher Nobes, 2013. "The continued survival of international differences under IFRS," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 83-111, April.
    16. Guoping Liu & Jerry Sun, 2015. "Did the Mandatory Adoption of IFRS Affect the Earnings Quality of Canadian Firms?," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 250-275, September.
    17. Palea, Vera, 2013. "IAS/IFRS and Financial Reporting Quality: Lessons from the European Experience," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201330, University of Turin.
    18. Nobes, Christopher & Stadler, Christian, 2013. "How arbitrary are international accounting classifications? Lessons from centuries of classifying in many disciplines, and experiments with IFRS data," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 573-595.
    19. Ding, Yuan & Jeanjean, Thomas & Stolowy, Herve, 2005. "Why do national GAAP differ from IAS? The role of culture," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 325-350.
    20. Michael E. Bradbury, 1998. "Harmonising with Overseas Accounting Standards: A New Zealand Perspective," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 8(16), pages 18-23, November.
    21. Naomi Soderstrom & Kevin Jialin Sun, 2007. "IFRS Adoption and Accounting Quality: A Review," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 675-702.
    22. Philip Brown, 2011. "International Financial Reporting Standards: what are the benefits?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 269-285, August.
    23. Timothy S Doupnik & Stephen B Salter, 1993. "An Empirical test of a Judgemental International Classification of Financial Reporting Practices," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 24(1), pages 41-60, March.
    24. Christopher Nobes, 2008. "Accounting Classification in the IFRS Era," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 18(3), pages 191-198, September.
    25. Jeanjean, Thomas & Stolowy, Hervé, 2008. "Do accounting standards matter? An exploratory analysis of earnings management before and after IFRS adoption," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 480-494.
    26. Erlend Kvaal & Christopher Nobes, 2012. "IFRS Policy Changes and the Continuation of National Patterns of IFRS Practice," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 343-371, August.
    27. Wehrfritz, Martin & Haller, Axel, 2014. "National influence on the application of IFRS: Interpretations and accounting estimates by German and British accountants," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 196-208.
    28. Al-Shammari, Bader & Brown, Philip & Tarca, Ann, 2008. "An investigation of compliance with international accounting standards by listed companies in the Gulf Co-Operation Council member states," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 425-447, December.
    29. Erlend Kvaal & Christopher Nobes, 2010. "International differences in IFRS policy choice: A research note," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 173-187.
    30. Martin Glaum & Jörg Baetge & Alexander Grothe & Tatjana Oberdörster, 2013. "Introduction of International Accounting Standards, Disclosure Quality and Accuracy of Analysts' Earnings Forecasts," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 79-116, May.
    31. Christian Leuz, 2010. "Different approaches to corporate reporting regulation: How jurisdictions differ and why," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 229-256.
    32. R D Nair, 1982. "Empirical Guidelines for Comparing International Accounting data," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 13(3), pages 85-98, September.
    33. Christian Stadler & Christopher W. Nobes, 2014. "The Influence of Country, Industry, and Topic Factors on IFRS Policy Choice," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 50(4), pages 386-421, December.
    34. Christopher Nobes, 2006. "The survival of international differences under IFRS: towards a research agenda," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 233-245.
    35. Frank, Wg, 1979. "Empirical-Analysis Of International Accounting Principles," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 593-605.
    36. Md Humayun Kabir & Fawzi Laswad & Md Ainul Islam, 2010. "Impact of IFRS in New Zealand on Accounts and Earnings Quality," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 20(4), pages 343-357, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paula Silva, Ana & Fontes, Alexandra & Martins, Adelaide, 2021. "Perceptions regarding the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards in Portugal and Brazil," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    2. R. M. Ammar Zahid & Can Simga‐Mugan, 2024. "The impact of International Financial Reporting Standards adoption on the integration of capital markets," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 229-250, January.
    3. Yuqian Zhang, 2023. "Using Google Trends to track the global interest in International Financial Reporting Standards: Evidence from big data," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 87-100, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicola Moscariello & Len Skerratt & Michele Pizzo, 2014. "Mandatory IFRS adoption and the cost of debt in Italy and UK," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 63-82, February.
    2. Elad, Charles & Shah, Neeta & Agyeman, Charles, 2023. "Accounting classification in the era of International Financial Reporting Standards: The case of Africa," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    3. Nobes, Christopher & Stadler, Christian, 2013. "How arbitrary are international accounting classifications? Lessons from centuries of classifying in many disciplines, and experiments with IFRS data," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 573-595.
    4. Silvia Rossetti & Roberto Verona, 2017. "International Differences in IFRS Policy Choice and the Persistence of Accounting Classification: The Case of China," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(2), pages 1-27, January.
    5. Philip Brown, 2013. "Some Observations on Research on the Benefits to Nations of Adopting IFRS," The Japanese Accounting Review, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, vol. 3, pages 1-19, December.
    6. Klimczak Katarzyna, 2017. "Cross-country Differences in Reporting Practices – the Case of Provisions for Liabilities," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 25(3), pages 20-33, September.
    7. Forst, Arno, 2014. "IFRS implementation in the European Union and the survival of accounting families," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 187-195.
    8. Walid Guermazi, 2023. "International financial reporting standards adoption in the European Union and earnings conservatism: a review of empirical research," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(2), pages 200-211, June.
    9. Humayun Kabir & Fawzi Laswad, 2015. "The Impact of Improvements in Institutional Oversight on IFRS Accrual Quality in Europe," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 25(4), pages 428-444, December.
    10. Nobes, Christopher, 2018. "Lessons from misclassification in international accounting," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 239-254.
    11. Tsalavoutas, Ioannis & Tsoligkas, Fanis & Evans, Lisa, 2020. "Compliance with IFRS mandatory disclosure requirements: A structured literature review," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    12. Marco Fasan & Carlo Marcon, 2014. "Accounting Tradition and other drivers of the Fair Value choice: An Opportunistic Management perspective," Working Papers 13, Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    13. Wehrfritz, Martin & Haller, Axel, 2014. "National influence on the application of IFRS: Interpretations and accounting estimates by German and British accountants," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 196-208.
    14. Ahmed, Kamran & Chalmers, Keryn & Khlif, Hichem, 2013. "A Meta-analysis of IFRS Adoption Effects," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 173-217.
    15. Olante, Maria Elena & Lassini, Ugo, 2022. "Investment property: Fair value or cost model? Recent evidence from the application of IAS 40 in Europe," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    16. Devalle, Alain & Rizzato, Fabio & Busso, Donatella, 2016. "Disclosure indexes and compliance with mandatory disclosure—The case of intangible assets in the Italian market," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 8-25.
    17. Rajat Deb & Mukesh Nepal & Sourav Chakraborty, 2023. "IFRS and Audit Quality: A Systematic Literature Review," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 48(1), pages 118-138, February.
    18. Ulf Br&?ggemann & J?rg-Markus Hitz & Thorsten Sellhorn, 2013. "Intended and Unintended Consequences of Mandatory IFRS Adoption: A Review of Extant Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 1-37, May.
    19. Yuqian Zhang, 2023. "Using Google Trends to track the global interest in International Financial Reporting Standards: Evidence from big data," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 87-100, April.
    20. Gordon, Elizabeth A. & Gotti, Giorgio & Ho, Joanna H. & Mora, Araceli & Morris, Richard D., 2019. "Commentary: Where is International Accounting Research Going? Issues Needing Further Investigation," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:28:y:2018:i:4:p:468-481. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1035-6908 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.