The Unintended Consequences of Applying IFRS Standards: Regulators’ Perceptions

Abstract

This study focuses on the application of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on financial reporting of two countries (South Korea and Kenya). We investigate whether there are unintended consequences of applying mandatory accounting standards across countries. We adopted a cross-sectional research design using hand collected data for examining the Regulation’s accounting objectives of transparency and comparability. The Korean Accounting Standards Board (KASB), the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Kenya (ICPAK) and the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) Regulators were chosen for the study. The results show that there are unintended consequences especially with the way the IASB Regulator that has given discretion to national Regulators in the application of the IFRS Standards. Further, due to lack of vigorous IASB Regulator’s enforcement the application of mandatory accounting standards has brought about ‘small differences’ that can impair reported performances hence impeding the need of comparability and transparency. We give a specific recommendation that the Regulators need to debate further on the better ways of applying IFRS Standards.