مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد طبقه بندی حسابداری در عصر IFRS: مورد آفریقا – الزویر 2023

Abstract

This paper presents the first empirical test of a hypothetical classification of financial reporting in Africa based on de facto or actual practices as opposed to de jure rules. Three multivariate techniques (principal component analysis, cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling) were used to analyze the accounting policies of large, listed companies in Africa that are required by law to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It was found that there is a dichotomy between the IFRS policy choices of companies in Francophone and Lusophone countries, on the one hand, and those in common law jurisdictions, on the other, thus, confirming the two-group classification schemes proposed by Elad (2015) and Nobes (1983). These findings have important policy implications, particularly in the context of recent recommendations of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that large entities in Africa adopt IFRS.

Introduction

Several studies have suggested that there are opportunities for systematic differences of practice to exist within International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) usage (Nobes, 2006; 2013) and that different national versions of IFRS practice have emerged in some jurisdictions as a new feature of comparative international accounting. In particular, Nobes (2006, 2011, 2014) developed and tested some hypotheses on the persistence of national differences under IFRS in industrialized countries and invited other researchers to investigate this issue further, thus, opening up a new research agenda. The present study is a direct response to Nobes’ call for further research.

This paper seeks to contribute to the international accounting literature in two ways. First, unlike earlier accounting classification studies, this paper attempts to classify accounting systems in Africa using data on actual practices as opposed to rules and regulations. This is important because several recent studies have painted a somewhat misleading picture of the extent to which IFRS have been adopted in some national settings simply because they relied solely on accounting rules and regulations. One classic example is a paper by Khlif et al. (2020), which concluded that the extent of convergence with IFRS in Algeria is higher than in Morocco and Tunisia. Contrary to this claim, the level of adoption of IFRS appears to be higher in Morocco than in Algeria or Tunisia because Morocco is the only North African country that allows listed companies to use IFRS in consolidated financial statements. IFRS are currently prohibited for statutory reporting purposes in Algeria and Tunisia (Deloitte, 2022). In addition, IAS (International Accounting Standard) 1 (paragraph 16) makes it clear that an entity shall only describe financial statements as complying with IFRS if the financial statements comply with all the requirements of IFRS. Khlif et al. (2020) inadvertently convey the impression that Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia have adopted international standards, whereas IFRS have only influenced (to some extent) the development of national generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in these countries. Khlif et al. used data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC, 2011) survey of accounting regulations to support their key arguments. The survey report states on page 202 that IFRS are ‘‘required for consolidated and standalone/separate financial statements” in Algeria. However, the 2015 edition of the report now states unequivocally that IFRS are ‘‘neither required nor permitted in Algeria.” (PwC, 2015, p. 229). This point is re-emphasized in the most recent (2017) edition, which also states that ‘‘IFRS are neither required nor permitted in Algeria” (PwC, 2017, p. 205).

Conclusion

The three multivariate analyses in this study (principal component analysis, cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling) all lead to the same conclusion that a two-group classification (Anglo-American School and Franco-German School) can be discerned in the IFRS practices of listed companies in Africa, thereby supporting H1. These results also support H2, that pre-IFRS national rules influence IFRS policy choices, and H3, that there are systematic national differences in the accounting policy choices of listed companies in Africa.

Unlike earlier work by Elad (2015), which tested the classification in Fig. 2 using only data on de jure regulations from the PwC (2011) survey, this paper presents the first classification of financial reporting in Africa based on de facto practices. Classifications based on statutory rules rather than accounting practices could mislead researchers if the rules are not followed in practice. This paper shows that many recent studies use erroneous data on the adoption status of IFRS in African countries simply because they relied solely on statutory accounting rules and regulations.