International Classification of Accounting Systems and Effects of IFRS Adoption

This paper uses the classification of accounting systems as a guide to explore the impact of new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) reporting rules on corporate financial statements and financial ratios in comparison to their local counterparts in selected European countries. In this study, it was found that the research in different countries on Europe yield different results and the impact of IFRS is not homogeneous due to different country backgrounds and different socio-cultural traditions. The assumption that the impact of IFRS adoption correlates with membership in a certain group of classification of accounting systems was weakly confirmed. It had been found that the impact of these changes on financial ratios is more pronounced in Southern Europe: Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal and to a lesser extent in Turkey. The impact is less pronounced in the countries of Northern and Central Europe: Germany, Poland, Finland and Sweden. The impact was significant and negative in Hungary.These findings are to an extent supported by the classification of National accounting systems by Nobes 1983 and 1989. However, a new research on classification needs to be performed because of recent developments,the significant impact of the global financial crisis and also because it has been awhile since the original classification was developed