Macroeconomic Determinants Of International Financial Reporting Standards (Ifrs) Adoption: Evidence From The Middle East North Africa (Mena) Region

The adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as a country’s Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) has accelerated in the last 5 years with approximately 120 sovereign governments designating IFRS as the required financial reporting framework for at least some companies in the country. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) reports that of these, about 90 countries have adopted it fully for all businesses, large and small. In an annual update, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) lists 147 countries that have some relationship with IFRS (the U.S. is listed, for instance, as it allows foreign companies with a capital market presence to use IFRS instead of converting their results to U.S. GAAP). Yet many of the world’s 201 recognized countries have resisted fully adopting IFRS, particularly in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region of the world. This begs the question: what are the perceived benefits of adopting IFRS at the country level?