Effect of Environmental Factors of Countries on IFRS Adoption

Abstract This study aimed to investigate the effect of environmental factors on international financial reporting standards (IFRS) adoption across countries. Environmental factors in this study include the existence of capital market, economic growth, economic openness, legal system, education level and cultural indicators such as power distance, individualism, masculinity and avoidance of uncertainty. The patterns of adoption of IFRS by countries were determined on the basis of a three-way approach. The sample of this study consists of 93 countries in year of 2016. Data has been examined using multivariate logistic regression analysis. The results indicate that countries with high level of education and power distances and countries with low level of economic growth, individuality and uncertainty avoidance are more willing to adopt IFRS. Also, the existence of the capital market, the openness of the economy, the legal system and the male parity did not significantly affect the adoption of IFRS.   Keywords: IFRS, Economic Growth, Economic Openness, Legal Systems, Cultural Indicators