IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/jfrcpp/v24y2016i1p41-59.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

International accounting standards and accounting quality in code-law countries

Author

Listed:
  • Ibrahim El-Sayed Ebaid

Abstract

Purpose - – This study aims to examine whether the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) leads to accounting quality improvements in Egypt as a code-law country. In particular, the study examines earnings management, the construct often used to assess accounting quality. Design/methodology/approach - – The study compares earnings management practice for Egyptian listed companies before (2000-2006) and after (2007-2009) the adoption of IFRS. Findings - – The findings of the study reveal that accounting quality, as measured by earnings management, has decreased in post-adoption period compared to pre-adoption period. IFRS are set up to provide high-quality financial reporting. However, this cannot be achieved solely by a regulatory requirement to follow. The accounting system is a complementary component of the country’s overall institutional system. Institutional improvements did not simultaneously take place by the Egyptian government around the adoption of IFRS. The Egyptian government did not introduce a more effective enforcement system, mandatory corporate governance regulations, investor protection mechanisms and sufficient institutional knowledge of IFRS during that period. Thus, even if IFRS are higher quality standards, the institutional features of Egyptian market could eliminate any improvement in accounting quality arising from adopting IFRS. Research/limitations/implications - – The results of the study are consistent with prior research suggesting that the adoption of IFRS, which are generally perceived to be of higher quality than domestic standards, does not necessarily lead to higher accounting quality in code-law countries like Egypt. The overall results indicate that incentives dominate accounting standards in determining accounting quality in Egypt. Originality/value - – The main reason why countries adopt IFRS invariably is to improve accounting quality. It is, therefore, of interest to ascertain if this goal has been met, especially, in code-law countries such as Egypt.

Suggested Citation

  • Ibrahim El-Sayed Ebaid, 2016. "International accounting standards and accounting quality in code-law countries," Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(1), pages 41-59, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:jfrcpp:v:24:y:2016:i:1:p:41-59
    DOI: 10.1108/JFRC-12-2011-0047
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JFRC-12-2011-0047/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JFRC-12-2011-0047/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/JFRC-12-2011-0047?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Akisik, Orhan, 2020. "The impact of financial development, IFRS, and rule of LAW on foreign investments: A cross-country analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 815-838.
    2. Adhikari, Ajay & Bansal, Manish & Kumar, Ashish, 2021. "IFRS convergence and accounting quality: India a case study," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    3. Wafaa Salah, 2020. "The International Financial Reporting Standards and Firm Performance: A Systematic Review," Applied Finance and Accounting, Redfame publishing, vol. 6(2), pages 1-10, August.
    4. Juniarti, 2018. "The Accounting Conservatism of the Adoption of IFRS in Indonesia," GATR Journals afr162, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:jfrcpp:v:24:y:2016:i:1:p:41-59. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.