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Measuring the Comparability of Company Accounts Conditionally: A Research Note

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  • Ross H. Taplin

Abstract

Comparability indices summarize the level of comparability between companies at a national and international level, an issue of importance to investors, regulators, and standard setters. Comparability indices can identify areas where comparability is low and where comparability is deteriorating. Furthermore, they can be used to quantify the extent to which initiatives such as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are successful in raising comparability between company accounts. Despite past literature emphasizing how factors other than country influence accounting methods used by companies, current comparability indices ignore these other factors. This paper introduces new national and international indices within the T index framework to fill this gap in the literature. Formula for the new national and international indices, and their standard errors, are provided. An example using European data is used to demonstrate the calculations and illustrate the importance of controlling for these firm specific factors.

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  • Ross H. Taplin, 2017. "Measuring the Comparability of Company Accounts Conditionally: A Research Note," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 53(4), pages 527-542, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:abacus:v:53:y:2017:i:4:p:527-542
    DOI: 10.1111/abac.12097
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Richard Morris & R. Parker, 1998. "International harmony measures of accounting policy: comparative statistical properties," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 73-86.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Mohamed Gomaa & Kiridaran Kanagaretnam & Stuart Mestelman & Mohamed Shehata, 2019. "Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Replacing the Incurred Credit Loss Model of Bank Loan Loss Provisions with the International or US Accounting Standards Boards’ Expected Credit Loss Models," Department of Economics Working Papers 2019-10, McMaster University.
    3. Gomaa, Mohamed & Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Mestelman, Stuart & Shehata, Mohamed, 2021. "Test-bedding the new reporting standards for loan loss reserves," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 225-245.

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