Diferentes modelos de programación en la radio católica

This study enhances our understanding of factors inhibiting IFRS adoption by investigating the relationship between companies’ IFRS adoption and practical difficulties (such as cost of IFRS adoption, the lack of staff knowledge, appropriate internal control, information

technology system, accounting valuation and inconsistent legal requirements), and industry type (such as agriculture, construction, financial services, oil and gas, health and services) (Faraj & Firjani, 2014; Guerreiro, 2012; Ibrahim, 2014; Jones & Higgins, 2006; Odia & Ogiedu,

153

2013; Zeghal & Mhedhbi, 2006). Further, this study tests the relationship of cultural factors such as flexibility, uniformity, professionalism, statutory control, transparency, secrecy, optimism and conservatism which have not been previously studied since these factors were first identified in Borker (2013b). The findings in Model 1 confirm that cultural factors have significant impacts on IFRS adoption except for optimism and conservatism. The theoretical implications of this research are discussed below:



Cultural Factors as Challenges in IFRS Adoption

Previous studies showed that cultural factors do not influence IFRS adoption, but the companies’ characteristics such as size influences the preparers of financial statements’ decisions to adopt IFRS (Clements, Neill, & Stovall, 2010). After controlling for companies’ size effect in Model 1, the study identified significant relationships between a set of cultural factors and the companies’ willingness to adopt IFRS.

Further, the study also confirms Perumpral et al. (2009) study that culture is one of the obstacles to international accounting standards’ adoption. The study however, identified that the traits of cultural factors that influence IFRS adoption differ from previous studies. Previous studies concluded the possible influence of culture on IFRS adoption without any specific reference to the traits of culture that influence IFRS adoption (Faraj & Firjani, 2014; Zakari, 2014). Based on these research findings, not all cultural traits positively or negatively affect IFRS adoption. For example, the literature reveals that the greater the transparency in IFRS financial statements the more likely the companies will adopt IFRS (Guerreiro, 2012). The empirical results in Model 1 show this perception is incorrect. The negative significance of transparency in this study implies that the impact can vary depending on the financial reporting environment.

The extent that each of the cultural factors affects IFRS adoption is shown in this study. The marginal effects in Model 1 show some cultural factors such as professionalism and flexibility have stronger and positive impact on IFRS adoption compared with other cultural factors such as statutory control, secrecy and uniformity, which have weaker and negative impacts.

Further, professionalism has been identified as the most important cultural trait that influences IFRS adoption. “It is only recently that researchers have realised the importance of culture in understanding professional and business practice” (Perera et al., 2012, p. 139).

154

Despite the awareness of the role of culture in accounting practice, little is known about the influence of professionalism prior to this study. The implication is that IFRS adoption can only be successful when accountants develop the relevant technical expertise in IFRS requirements prior to the adoption. This study confirms Borker (2012) finding that professionalism is a cultural factor that describes the success in IFRS adoption at both corporate and country levels, while statutory control hinders IFRS adoption.



Difficulties in IFRS Adoption

Some previous studies identified a handful of practical difficulties in IFRS adoption. For example, the cost of adoption, IFRS knowledge and timeliness in IFRS adoption were reported in Jones & Higgins (2006). Other studies are simple commentaries or assumed factors that could affect IFRS adoption such as Gernon & Wallace (1995), Ali, (2005), Madawaki (2012) in the case of Nigeria, Brüggemann et al. (2013) in the case of EU and Misirlioglu et al. (2013) in the case of Turkey. However, this present study specifically identified what the companies considered as the challenges in IFRS adoption in Nigeria and presents the significant relationship between different challenges such as internal control system, the cost of IFRS adoption, difficulty in accounting valuation, different legal requirements and changes in information technology requirements. It appears many international accounting researchers have little or no awareness of the influences of the internal control system on IFRS adoption prior to this study. Only recently, the Institute of Management Accountants of the UK realised the need to integrate financial reporting with management accounting using an integrated internal control system (Borker, 2016a). This research confirms the need to include the internal control system as part of the challenges in IFRS adoption and provides insights into the threats posed by the lack of appropriate internal control systems on IFRS adoption.

Some of the challenges identified in this present study are similar to previous studies such as the cost of IFRS adoption and staff knowledge of IFRS. Other challenges identified in this present study are somewhat different from previous studies. For example, this study identified different regulatory requirements and valuation of accounting assets and liabilities as practical difficulties among the sampled companies. This expansion of the challenges in IFRS adoption broadens our knowledge of the practical difficulties companies face in preparing IFRS financial statements.

155



Industry Effects on IFRS Adoption

The study expands on the impacts of industry on IFRS adoption. The limited knowledge of industry effects on IFRS adoption in the literature has been addressed by this study. The effects of industry type included in previous studies such as Ibrahim (2014) and Wentzel et al. (2008) have been extended to other industries in this present study (i.e. agriculture, oil and gas, financial services, construction, conglomerates, health and services and utility). Moreover, the perceptions that IFRS is unlikely to be adopted by companies in the oil and gas industry have revealed a new dimension in this study that the adoption of IFRS by companies in different industries can vary by countries. The result in Model 3 shows the companies in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria exhibited a positive relationship with IFRS adoption. The business environment would have contributed to this finding because the majority of the oil and gas companies in Nigeria are held by Nigerians and foreign investors who have an influence on the companies’ willingness to adopt IFRS as directed by the FRC.

Overall, the study investigated the challenges in IFRS adoption from three perspectives. These includes companies’ cultural factors on IFRS adoption, practical difficulties in IFRS adoption, and the effects of industry type on IFRS adoption. This differs from previous studies that do not specifically define the aspect of challenges investigated (Faraj & Firjani, 2014; Guerreiro, 2012; Ibrahim, 2014; Jones & Higgins, 2006; Odia & Ogiedu, 2013; Zeghal & Mhedhbi, 2006).