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Impact of Mandatory IFRS Adoption on Conditional Conservatism in Europe

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Abstract

We study the effect of the mandatory adoption of IFRS in Europe in 2005 on conditional conservatism. To capture conditional conservatism, we use three measures: the Basu (1997) measure, the Khan and Watts (2009) measure, and a measure controlling for potential shifts in unconditional conservatism and cost of capital after the adoption of IFRS. From a sample of 7,251 firm-year observations drawn from 16 European countries, we document an overall decline of the degree of conditional conservatism across our three measures. While there is no change in weak enforcement/governance countries which remain less conditionally conservative than strong enforcement/governance countries, the latter exhibit a significant decrease. Further, we demonstrate that the decline is more significant for firms carrying intangible assets and goodwill in their balance sheets, items for which impairment tests rely on unverifiable fair value estimates. We argue that IFRS are conceptually conditionally conservative but that inappropriate application of conditional conservatism principles may have prevented financial reporting from reaching the level of conservatism targeted by the IASB.

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  • André, Paul & Filip, Andrei & Paugam, Luc, 2013. "Impact of Mandatory IFRS Adoption on Conditional Conservatism in Europe," ESSEC Working Papers WP1311, ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:essewp:dr-13011
    Note: M41, M48, G38
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Barker & Anne McGeachin, 2015. "An Analysis of Concepts and Evidence on the Question of Whether IFRS Should be Conservative," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 51(2), pages 169-207, June.
    2. Juniarti, 2018. "The Accounting Conservatism of the Adoption of IFRS in Indonesia," GATR Journals afr162, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    3. Mark Russell, 2017. "Management incentives to recognise intangible assets," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57, pages 211-234, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Conditional Conservatism; IFRS; Europe; Enforcement; Governance; Intangibles; Impairment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M48 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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