Accounting Regulations and IFRS Adoption in Francophone North African Countries: The Experience of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia

IF 2 Q2 BUSINESS, FINANCE
Hichem Khlif, Kamran Ahmed, M. Alam
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引用次数: 15

Abstract

This paper traces the historical developments of accounting regulations in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia and uses institutional theory to identify factors affecting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption as the national accounting standards in these countries. We find that the extent of convergence with IFRS in Algeria is higher compared to Morocco and Tunisia. This has been mostly due to greater foreign investor flows from Western countries in Algeria during the last decade, the dominant position of international Big-4 audit firms, and strong trade relationship of Algeria with the European Union (EU) compared with Morocco and Tunisia. We discuss the main challenges faced by these three countries in converging toward IFRS. These are underdeveloped equity markets, switching from French fiscal-oriented accounting systems to Anglo-Saxon accounting systems, and are characterized by lack of knowledge of principles-based IFRS by local professional accountants. Moreover, the convergence with IFRS in these countries is confronted by the prevailing small and medium-sized firms in the economic environment, difficulty in fair-value measurement in these settings, and the cost of convergence for companies. Our study has policy implications for those countries sharing similarities with these settings and have undertaken steps to implement IFRS.
北非法语国家会计法规与国际财务报告准则的采用:阿尔及利亚、摩洛哥和突尼斯的经验
本文追溯了阿尔及利亚、摩洛哥和突尼斯会计法规的历史发展,并利用制度理论来确定影响这些国家采用国际财务报告准则(IFRS)作为国家会计准则的因素。我们发现阿尔及利亚与国际财务报告准则的趋同程度高于摩洛哥和突尼斯。这主要是由于在过去十年中,来自西方国家的更多外国投资者流入阿尔及利亚,国际四大审计公司的主导地位,以及与摩洛哥和突尼斯相比,阿尔及利亚与欧盟(EU)的牢固贸易关系。我们将讨论这三个国家在向国际财务报告准则趋同时面临的主要挑战。这些都是不发达的股票市场,从法国以财政为导向的会计制度转向盎格鲁-撒克逊会计制度,其特点是当地专业会计师缺乏基于原则的国际财务报告准则知识。此外,这些国家与国际财务报告准则的趋同面临着经济环境中普遍存在的中小型企业、在这些环境中公允价值计量的困难以及公司趋同的成本。我们的研究对那些与这些环境有相似之处并已采取措施实施国际财务报告准则的国家具有政策意义。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
1.20
自引率
0.00%
发文量
19
期刊介绍: The aim of The International Journal of Accounting is to advance the academic and professional understanding of accounting theory, policies and practice from the international perspective and viewpoint. The Journal editorial recognizes that international accounting is influenced by a variety of forces, e.g., governmental, political and economic. Thus, the primary criterion for manuscript evaluation is the incremental contribution to international accounting literature and the forces that impact the field. The Journal aims at understanding the present and potential ability of accounting to aid in analyzing and interpreting international economic transactions and the economic consequences of such reporting. These transactions may be within a profit or non-profit environment. The Journal encourages a broad view of the origins and development of accounting with an emphasis on its functions in an increasingly interdependent global economy. The Journal also welcomes manuscripts that help explain current international accounting practices, with related theoretical justifications, and identify criticisms of current policies and practice. Other than occasional commissioned papers or special issues, all the manuscripts published in the Journal are selected by the editors after the normal double-blind refereeing process.
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