Glocalization: A Balanced Approach For A Smoother International Accounting Harmonization in the Developing Countries

The main objective of this paper is to propose glocalization as a new approach for promoting IFRS and facilitating the implementation of international accounting harmonization especially in the developing countries, given the growing controversy on the reflections, implications and consequences of accounting globalization especially in the developing countries. The endeavors towards international accounting standardization are influenced by the extreme polarization between the proponents and opponents of accounting globalization that pushes towards a compromise position represented by glocalization. Jordan, as an example of a developing country, provides a fertile environment of the use of glocalization as an appropriate solution for the stagnation in accounting thought and practice. We document evidence from the Jordanian professional regulations and practice that the adoption and implementation of IFRS have been significantly influenced by the local context in terms of its legal, economic, political, institutional, social and cultural aspects. Therefore, we introduce adopting the concept of glocalization to describe the process of internationalization of accounting standards, as this concept has been intelligently used by many researchers in various fields of the social and political sciences to affirm the need for “indigenization” to better promote the infamous process of globalization. This paper has implications for standard setters and regulators. Further, IASB is requested to permit flexibility when issuing standards to allow for a convenient glocalization to achieve the objectives of harmonization. This approach allows the regulators to examine the impacts of the international standards and how fit to the context during application. Glocalization through evolutionary adaptability is the only solution to alleviate the current pseudo implementation of IFRS by the majority of developing countries.