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IFRS: On the Docility of Sophisticated Users in Preserving the Ideal of Comparability

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  • Sylvain Durocher
  • Yves Gendron

Abstract

This paper questions the ideal of comparability, which is often mobilized by standard setters when justifying new - or 'improvement' to existing - accounting standards. The target of our analysis is constituted by the thoughts of sophisticated users of financial statements when reflecting about International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation in Europe. Drawing on the work of Mary Douglas on purity and Michel Foucault on docility, it is argued and shown that sophisticated users tend to interpret aberrations - that is to say indications of incomparability which confront users in the flow of their professional lives - in ways that allow the ideal of comparability to be preserved. Important consequences ensuing from the docility of users in purifying aberrations are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Sylvain Durocher & Yves Gendron, 2011. "IFRS: On the Docility of Sophisticated Users in Preserving the Ideal of Comparability," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 233-262.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:20:y:2011:i:2:p:233-262
    DOI: 10.1080/09638181003687869
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    Cited by:

    1. Lisa Baudot & Zhongwei Huang & Dana Wallace, 2021. "Stakeholder Perceptions of Risk in Mandatory Corporate Responsibility Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 151-174, August.
    2. Hervé Kohler & Christine Pochet & Anne Le Manh, 2021. "Auditors as intermediaries in the endogenization of an accounting standard: The case of IFRS 15 within the telecom industry," Post-Print hal-03337420, HAL.
    3. Stenka, Renata, 2022. "Beyond intentionality in accounting regulation: Habitual strategizing by the IASB," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Stenka, Renata & Jaworska, Sylvia, 2019. "The use of made-up users," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Michel Coulmont & Sylvie Berthelot & Vincent Gagné, 2022. "Sustainability performance indicator trends: a Canadian industry-based analysis," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, December.
    6. Kohler, Hervé & Pochet, Christine & Le Manh, Anne, 2021. "Auditors as intermediaries in the endogenization of an accounting standard: The case of IFRS 15 within the telecom industry," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    7. Bhimani, Alnoor & Bond, David & Sivabalan, Prabhu, 2019. "Does greater user representation lead to more user focused standards? An empirical investigation of IASB’s approach to standard setting," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91196, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Laura Girella & Roberto Tizzano & Elisa Rita Ferrari, 2019. "Concepts travelling across disciplinary fields: the case of the business model," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(2), pages 373-402, June.
    9. Marco Trombetta & Alfred Wagenhofer & Peter Wysocki, 2012. "The Usefulness of Academic Research in Understanding the Effects of Accounting Standards," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 127-146, December.
    10. Jerzy Gierusz & Katarzyna Kolesnik & Sylwia Silska Gembka, 2019. "The Interpretation of "in Context" Verbal Probability Expressions Used in International Financial Reporting Standards - Evidence from Poland," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2019(1), pages 25-45.
    11. Kohler, Hervé & Pochet, Christine & Gendron, Yves, 2021. "Networks of interpretation: An ethnography of the quest for IFRS consistency in a global accounting firm," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    12. Ghio, Alessandro & McGuigan, Nicholas & Powell, Lisa, 2023. "The Queering Accounting Manifesto," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    13. Durocher, Sylvain & Georgiou, Omiros, 2022. "Framing accounting for goodwill: Intractable controversies between users and standard setters," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Baudot, Lisa & Cooper, David J., 2022. "Regulatory mandates and responses to uncomfortable knowledge: The case of country-by-country reporting in the extractive sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    15. Mantzari, Elisavet & Georgiou, Omiros, 2019. "Ideological hegemony and consent to IFRS: Insights from practitioners in Greece," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 70-93.
    16. Ahblom, Per & Sjögren, Ebba, 2019. "Delivering performance: the capital market framing of financial numbers from a preparer perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102819, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Molina Sánchez, Horacio & Mora Enguídanos, Araceli, 2015. "Cambios conceptuales en la contabilidad de los arrendamientos: retos normativos y académicos," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 99-113.
    18. Annisette, Marcia, 2017. "Discourse of the professions: The making, normalizing and taming of Ontario's “foreign-trained accountant”," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 37-61.
    19. Paul André & Peter Walton & Dan Yang, 2012. "Voluntary adoption of IFRS: A study of determinants for UK unlisted firms," Post-Print hal-00935013, HAL.
    20. Huikku, Jari & Mouritsen, Jan & Silvola, Hanna, 2017. "Relative reliability and the recognisable firm: Calculating goodwill impairment value," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 68-83.
    21. Karen Handley & Sue Wright & Elaine Evans, 2018. "SME Reporting in Australia: Where to Now for Decision†usefulness?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(2), pages 251-265, June.
    22. Kettunen, Jaana, 2017. "Interlingual translation of the International Financial Reporting Standards as institutional work," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 38-54.
    23. Lambert Jerman, 2015. "Les Enjeux De L'Application Des Normes Ias-Ifrs : L'Etude Des Preparateurs Des Comptes, Une Perspective De Recherche Encore Inexploree," Post-Print hal-01188736, HAL.

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