IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/accoun/v46y2011i3p304-332.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mandating IFRS in an Unfavorable Environment: The Greek Experience

Author

Listed:
  • Karampinis, Nikolaos I.
  • Hevas, Dimosthenis L.

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate concerning the efficacy of mandating high-quality accounting standards in unfavorable economies with inadequate institutional infrastructures. Greece provides us with an example of an unfavorable jurisdiction for enforcement of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) due to its code-law tradition, bank orientation, concentrated corporate ownership, poor shareholders' protection, and low regulatory quality. Assuming that these conditions undermine managers' and auditors' incentives for high-quality financial reporting, how likely is it that mandating IFRS in such an environment will be effective? To address this research question, we explore potential effects of IFRS enforcement on two salient properties of accounting income: value relevance and conditional conservatism. Our results indicate only minor improvements in both of them after IFRS implementation.

Suggested Citation

  • Karampinis, Nikolaos I. & Hevas, Dimosthenis L., 2011. "Mandating IFRS in an Unfavorable Environment: The Greek Experience," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 304-332, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:accoun:v:46:y:2011:i:3:p:304-332
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020706311000501
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Begoña Giner & William Rees, 2001. "On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9&10), pages 1285-1331.
    2. Stephen Ryan, 2006. "Identifying Conditional Conservatism," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 511-525.
    3. Easton, Pd & Harris, Ts, 1991. "Earnings As An Explanatory Variable For Returns," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 19-36.
    4. David Aboody & John Hughes & Jing Liu, 2002. "Measuring Value Relevance in a (Possibly) Inefficient Market," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 965-986, September.
    5. Holthausen, Robert W. & Watts, Ross L., 2001. "The relevance of the value-relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 3-75, September.
    6. Begoña Giner & William Rees, 2001. "On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9‐10), pages 1285-1331, November.
    7. Mary E. Barth & Wayne R. Landsman & Mark H. Lang, 2008. "International Accounting Standards and Accounting Quality," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 467-498, June.
    8. 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.
    9. Ballas, Apostolos A. & Hevas, Dimosthenis L., 2005. "Differences in the valuation of earnings and book value: Regulation effects or industry effects?," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 363-389.
    10. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    11. Juan Manuel Garcia Lara & Araceli Mora, 2004. "Balance sheet versus earnings conservatism in Europe," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 261-292.
    12. Paul Hribar & Daniel W. Collins, 2002. "Errors in Estimating Accruals: Implications for Empirical Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(1), pages 105-134, March.
    13. 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.
    14. Luigi Zingales & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2003. "Banks and Markets: The Changing Character of European Finance," NBER Working Papers 9595, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Joos, P & Lang, M, 1994. "The Effects Of Accounting Diversity - Evidence From The European-Union," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32, pages 141-168.
    16. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Araceli Mora, 2005. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 691-726, April.
    17. Feltham, GA & Ohlson, JA, 1996. "Uncertainty resolution and the theory of depreciation measurement," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 209-234.
    18. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    19. Apostolos Ballas, 1994. "Accounting in Greece," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 107-121.
    20. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    21. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    22. Barth, Mary E. & Beaver, William H. & Landsman, Wayne R., 1998. "Relative valuation roles of equity book value and net income as a function of financial health," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 1-34, February.
    23. Ding, Yuan & Hope, Ole-Kristian & Jeanjean, Thomas & Stolowy, Herve, 2007. "Differences between domestic accounting standards and IAS: Measurement, determinants and implications," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-38.
    24. Basu, Sudipta, 1997. "The conservatism principle and the asymmetric timeliness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 3-37, December.
    25. Dechow, Patricia M., 1994. "Accounting earnings and cash flows as measures of firm performance : The role of accounting accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 3-42, July.
    26. Ballas, Apostolos & Hevas, Dimosthenis L., 2005. "Response to commentary on "Differences in the valuation of earnings and book value: Regulation effects or industry effects?"," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 395-397.
    27. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Daouk, Hazem & Welker, Michael, 2003. "The World Price of Earnings Opacity," Working Papers 127185, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    28. Ioannis Tsalavoutas & Paul André & Lisa Evans, 2009. "Transition to IFRS and value relevance in a small but developed market: A look at Greek evidence," Post-Print halshs-00460532, HAL.
    29. Ball, Ray & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2005. "Earnings quality in UK private firms: comparative loss recognition timeliness," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 83-128, February.
    30. Van der Meulen, Sofie & Gaeremynck, Ann & Willekens, Marleen, 2007. "Attribute differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS earnings: An exploratory study," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 123-142.
    31. Gregorios Siourounis, 2002. "Modelling volatility and testing for efficiency in emerging capital markets: the case of the Athens stock exchange," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 47-55.
    32. Laopodis, Nikiforos T., 2004. "Financial market liberalization and stock market efficiency: Evidence from the Athens Stock Exchange," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 103-123, August.
    33. Ball, Ray & Robin, Ashok & Wu, Joanna Shuang, 2003. "Incentives versus standards: properties of accounting income in four East Asian countries," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 235-270, December.
    34. Leuz, Christian & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter D., 2003. "Earnings management and investor protection: an international comparison," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 505-527, September.
    35. Harris, Ts & Lang, M & Moller, Hp, 1994. "The Value Relevance Of German Accounting Measures - An Empirical-Analysis," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 187-209.
    36. John T. Barkoulas & Christopher F. Baum & Nickolaos Travlos, 1996. "Long Memory in the Greek Stock Market," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 356., Boston College Department of Economics.
    37. Barth, Mary E. & Beaver, William H. & Landsman, Wayne R., 2001. "The relevance of the value relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting: another view," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 77-104, September.
    38. Cramer, J. S., 1987. "Mean and variance of R2 in small and moderate samples," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2-3), pages 253-266, July.
    39. Christos Tzovas & Constantinos Chalevas & Apostolos A. Ballas, 2010. "The impact of accounting of securities valuation on stock returns: the case of Greece," Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(3), pages 180-194, November.
    40. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Araceli Mora, 2005. "The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3‐4), pages 691-726, April.
    41. Holger Daske & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz & Rodrigo Verdi, 2008. "Mandatory IFRS Reporting around the World: Early Evidence on the Economic Consequences," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1085-1142, December.
    42. Joachim Gassen & Rolf Uwe Fulbier & Thorsten Sellhorn, 2006. "International Differences in Conditional Conservatism - The Role of Unconditional Conservatism and Income Smoothing," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 527-564.
    43. Miguel Arce & Araceli Mora, 2002. "Empirical evidence of the effect of European accounting differences on the stock market valuation of earnings and book value," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 573-599.
    44. King, Raymond D. & Langli, John Christian, 1998. "Accounting diversity and firm valuation," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 529-567.
    45. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "Corrigendum to "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings"; [Journal of Accounting and Economics 29 (2000) 1-51]," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 241-241, October.
    46. Brenda van Tendeloo & Ann Vanstraelen, 2005. "Earnings management under German GAAP versus IFRS," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 155-180.
    47. Caramanis, Constantinos & Lennox, Clive, 2008. "Audit effort and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 116-138, March.
    48. Van der Meulen, Sofie & Gaeremynck, Ann & Willekens, Marleen, 2007. "Attribute differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS earnings: An exploratory study," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 148-152.
    49. Ali, A & Hwang, LS, 2000. "Country-specific factors related to financial reporting and the value relevance of accounting data," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 1-21.
    50. Kothari, S. P. & Zimmerman, Jerold L., 1995. "Price and return models," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 155-192, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Tsalavoutas, Ioannis & André, Paul & Evans, Lisa, 2012. "The transition to IFRS and the value relevance of financial statements in Greece," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 262-277.
    2. Macías, Marta & Muiño, Flora, 2011. "Examining dual accounting systems in Europe," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 51-78, March.
    3. Günther, Nina & Gegenfurtner, Bernhard & Kaserer, Christoph & Achleitner, Ann-Kristin, 2009. "International financial reporting standards and earnings Quality: the myth of voluntary vs. mandatory adoption," CEFS Working Paper Series 2009-09, Technische Universität München (TUM), Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS).
    4. Karampinis N. & Hevas D., 2009. "The Effect of the Mandatory Application of IFRS on the Value Relevance of Accounting Data: Some Evidence from Greece," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 73-100.
    5. Ana Isabel Morais & José Dias Curto, 2009. "Mandatory Adoption of IASB Standards: Value Relevance and Country-Specific Factors," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 19(2), pages 128-143, June.
    6. Paul André & Andrei Filip & Luc Paugam, 2013. "Impact of Mandatory IFRS Adoption on Conditional Conservatism in Europe," Working Papers hal-00862683, HAL.
    7. Ioannis Tsalavoutas & Paul André & Lisa Evans, 2009. "Transition to IFRS and value relevance in a small but developed market: A look at Greek evidence," Post-Print halshs-00460532, HAL.
    8. Emmanuel T. De George & Xi Li & Lakshmanan Shivakumar, 2016. "A review of the IFRS adoption literature," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 898-1004, September.
    9. Cristina Gaio, 2010. "The Relative Importance of Firm and Country Characteristics for Earnings Quality around the World," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 693-738.
    10. Karampinis, Nikolaos I. & Hevas, Dimosthenis L., 2013. "Effects of IFRS Adoption on Tax-induced Incentives for Financial Earnings Management: Evidence from Greece," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 218-247.
    11. repec:hal:journl:hal-00862683 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Araceli Mora & Martin Walker, 2015. "The implications of research on accounting conservatism for accounting standard setting," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(5), pages 620-650, August.
    13. De George, Emmanuel T. & Li, Xi & Shivakumar, Lakshmanan, 2016. "A review of the IFRS adoption literature," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67599, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Kim, Oksana, 2013. "Russian Accounting System: Value Relevance of Reported Information and the IFRS Adoption Perspective," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 525-547.
    15. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    16. Juan Manuel García Lara & Beatriz García Osma & Fernando Penalva, 2009. "The Economic Determinants of Conditional Conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3‐4), pages 336-372, April.
    17. Paul André & Andrei Filip & Luc Paugam, 2015. "The Effect of Mandatory IFRS Adoption on Conditional Conservatism in Europe," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3-4), pages 482-514, April.
    18. Kim, Oksana, 2016. "The IFRS Adoption Reform through the Lens of Neoinstitutionalism: The Case of the Russian Federation," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 345-362.
    19. Gomez Biscarri, Javier & Lopez Espinosa, German, 2008. "The influence of differences in accounting standards on empirical pricing models: An application to the Fama-French model," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 369-388, October.
    20. Goncharov, Igor & Werner, Joerg R. & Zimmermann, Jochen, 2009. "Legislative demands and economic realities: Company and group accounts compared," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 334-362, December.
    21. Kamarudin, Khairul Anuar & Ariff, Akmalia M. & Jaafar, Aziz, 2020. "Investor protection, cross-listing and accounting quality," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1).

    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:eee:accoun:v:46:y:2011:i:3:p:304-332. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620179 .

    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.