In practice, the international accounting harmonization process faces cultural resistance in the concrete situations of accounting reforms. We often tend to believe that this resistance is felt more in the so-called e...In practice, the international accounting harmonization process faces cultural resistance in the concrete situations of accounting reforms. We often tend to believe that this resistance is felt more in the so-called emerging countries, rather than the developed ones. It is precisely this idea that the paper attempts to analyze, based on a literature review. The literature shows that emerging countries do not have the infrastructure or the real needs justifying a reform of international harmonization, except the need to display an IFRS label （Daske, Hail, Leuz, ＆ Verdi, 2007）, to facilitate the access of firms from emerging economies to developed financial markets. Moreover, the Anglo-American culture attached to IFRS leads to a difficulty in adopting those standards by any country whose original accounting system is continental. Indeed, for these countries, the process of international harmonization begins with an adaptation to the Anglo-Saxon accounting culture, the latter being different from the continental accounting culture at several levels.展开更多
Cross-border M＆As are important to the participating countries. I posit that mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards （IFRS） adoption lowers the systemic information noise embedded in countries＇ accou...Cross-border M＆As are important to the participating countries. I posit that mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards （IFRS） adoption lowers the systemic information noise embedded in countries＇ accounting standards. This reduces the associated information processing costs and enhances the economic role accounting standards play on cross-border M＆A flows. After mandatory IFRS adoption, a 1% increase in accounting standards disparity suppresses bilateral M＆A flows by around 2%; a decrease in accounting standards disparity helps promote bilateral M＆A flows when paired countries＇ governance infrastructure gaps are relatively wider. I do not find that these associations were significant prior to mandatory IFRS adoption. Overall, this paper documents an evolving economic role accounting standards play on bilateral cross-border M＆A flows and sheds light on the economic benefits of adopting IFRS for policy makers.展开更多
文摘In practice, the international accounting harmonization process faces cultural resistance in the concrete situations of accounting reforms. We often tend to believe that this resistance is felt more in the so-called emerging countries, rather than the developed ones. It is precisely this idea that the paper attempts to analyze, based on a literature review. The literature shows that emerging countries do not have the infrastructure or the real needs justifying a reform of international harmonization, except the need to display an IFRS label （Daske, Hail, Leuz, ＆ Verdi, 2007）, to facilitate the access of firms from emerging economies to developed financial markets. Moreover, the Anglo-American culture attached to IFRS leads to a difficulty in adopting those standards by any country whose original accounting system is continental. Indeed, for these countries, the process of international harmonization begins with an adaptation to the Anglo-Saxon accounting culture, the latter being different from the continental accounting culture at several levels.
文摘Cross-border M＆As are important to the participating countries. I posit that mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards （IFRS） adoption lowers the systemic information noise embedded in countries＇ accounting standards. This reduces the associated information processing costs and enhances the economic role accounting standards play on cross-border M＆A flows. After mandatory IFRS adoption, a 1% increase in accounting standards disparity suppresses bilateral M＆A flows by around 2%; a decrease in accounting standards disparity helps promote bilateral M＆A flows when paired countries＇ governance infrastructure gaps are relatively wider. I do not find that these associations were significant prior to mandatory IFRS adoption. Overall, this paper documents an evolving economic role accounting standards play on bilateral cross-border M＆A flows and sheds light on the economic benefits of adopting IFRS for policy makers.
