Warwick Stent
Doctor of Philosophy, (Accounting)
Study Completed: 2012
Massey Business School
Citation
Thesis Title
A Study of Early and Late Adopters of International Financial Reporting Standards in New Zealand
Read article at Massey Research Online: 
Since 2005, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been adopted in over 120 countries - one of the most significant changes in accounting history. Mr Stent investigated why some firms chose voluntary early adoption of IFRS, while others chose to defer adoption until it became mandatory in 2007. He found that financial information (e.g., net profit) is significantly changed by the adoption of IFRS, but that changes for early adopters are not significantly different to those for late adopters. He also found that early adopters attach more importance to IFRS adoption than late adopters in discretionary annual report disclosures. Finally, survey findings revealed that there are significant differences in some costs of IFRS, as well as perceptions regarding some expected benefits of IFRS. Overall, Mr Stent’s findings indicate that adoption timing is less likely to be influenced by financial information differences than by other factors.
Supervisors
Professor Michael Bradbury
Professor Jill Hooks