The Effects of Various Choices of IFRS Implementation on the Relevance of Accounting Information

Abstract

To adopt IFRS, some jurisdictions as South Africa has chosen a method of implementation IFRS by the adoption of the IASB process while others like Canada, South Korea and the European Union countries opted for outstanding by standard method to implement IFRS. China preferred an incomplete transposition of these standards to the international reference. Faced with these various choices, the question of the impact of the IFRS implementation on the relevance of accounting information remains posed. To answer this question, we have studied the evolution of the relevance of accounting information following the adoption of the IFRS implementation method for a sample composed of listed companies. These firms are from six countries which have opted for different implementation methods of IFRS. The results show a maintain of the high relevance of accounting information for South Africa which opted for an implementation process and an improvement of the relevance for countries which has adopted a standard by standard method of IFRS implementation such as Canada, Germany and Spain excepting South Korea. In China, which conducted an extensive but incomplete convergence of its standards to IFRS, the results demonstrate a decrease in the relevance of the accounting information. Also, comparative analysis of the results shows a better relevance of accounting information for countries which have opted for methods of implementation fairly close to the IFRS.