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Do IFRS Promote Transparency? Evidence from the Bankruptcy Prediction of Privately Held Swedish and Norwegian Companies

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  • Akarsh Kainth

    (Department of International Business, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 6009 Ålesund, Norway)

  • Ranik Raaen Wahlstrøm

    (NTNU Business School, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway)

Abstract

The purpose of our paper is to investigate whether any differences between International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and local Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) impact the transparency of financial reporting of non-listed companies through bankruptcy prediction. This contributes to extant research that has focused on the effects of IFRS adoption in the context of listed companies. For our investigation, we used logistic regression, well-established accounting-based predictors, and a sample of financial statements from privately held Swedish companies using IFRS, and Norwegian companies using Norwegian GAAP. The results indicate that financial statements made under IFRS may be better suited for bankruptcy prediction than those made under Norwegian GAAP. Our findings suggest that the use of IFRS could aid in increasing the informativeness of financial reports by promoting transparency and prevent managers of firms facing insolvency from engaging in creative accounting practices. Our results should, however, be applied with caution, as they may be due to the differences in characteristics across firms that are not captured by our research design. We leave this issue open to future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Akarsh Kainth & Ranik Raaen Wahlstrøm, 2021. "Do IFRS Promote Transparency? Evidence from the Bankruptcy Prediction of Privately Held Swedish and Norwegian Companies," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:14:y:2021:i:3:p:123-:d:517046
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    2. Ranik Raaen Wahlstr{o}m, 2022. "Financial statements of companies in Norway," Papers 2203.12842, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    3. Nora Štangová & Agneša Víghová, 2021. "Company liquidity as a reflection of receivables and payables management," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 9(2), pages 238-254, December.

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