Do IFRS Matter in Emerging Countries? An Exploratory Analysis of Brazilian Firms

This study analyzes the impact of IFRS adoption on earnings management in the emerging country which is probably the most important economy in the world that has adopted IFRS mandatorily, Brazil. We examine the distributions of reported earnings in order to find discontinuities around the zero threshold, before and after IFRS adoption, for a sample of Brazilian listed firms for the period 2004-2011. Our findings provide empirical evidence of discontinuities before, but not after, the adoption of IFRS in Brazil. The results of our study suggest that mandatory adoption of IFRS by Brazilian firms is associated with a decrease in earnings management, mainly during the period of full IFRS adoption (2010-2011)