Differences in Accounting Practices in the IFRS Era: Is it a "Problem"?

• Grant number: 15/27016-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): May 01, 2016
• Effective date (End): April 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Administration - Accounting
• Principal Investigator: Ariovaldo dos Santos
• Grantee: Raquel Wille Sarquis
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade (FEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the impact of the existence of accounting choices in the IFRS era, which result in different accounting practices, on the information comparability in countries where cultural and institutional environments are different. Comparability is used as an argument to encourage countries to adopt the IFRS. However, there are some studies that cast doubts if this purpose has been achieved, given that differences in accounting practices still can be found even in the IFRS era. One stream of research, based on the Theory of Accounting Choices, believes that these differences are hampering the global accounting information comparability, given that as long as IFRS contain options, managers may choose a specific accounting practice in an opportunistic way and "national versions of IFRS" will emerge. However, there is a second stream, based on the Theory of Cultural Influence, that argues that accounting is clearly affect by its environment and, thus, accounting choices are necessary to better reflect these differences in the environment. Require that all firms use exactly the same accounting practices will result in meaningless accounting information. In this context, the thesis that I intend to defend in this research is that comparability is based on the economic essence and, thus, the elimination of accounting choices and the requirement of the same accounting practices for all firms may not increase the information comparability in countries where cultural and institutional environments are different. In order to achieve this purpose, it will be analyzed five accounting choices in three countries from different environments. The research design will be conducted into three steps: first, a qualitative analysis; second, an archival analysis; and third, an experiment will be applied to preparers of financials statements. The use of these three approaches is to make sure that our results are robust.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SARQUIS, Raquel Wille. Differences in accounting practices in the IFRS Era: implications for the comparability of accounting information in different environments. 2019. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade (FEA/SBD) São Paulo.