Spanish Economist-Accountants´ Perceptions of Changes in Regulation due to IFRS Adoption

The adoption of IFRS in Spain by companies that are not included in the mandatory scope of the European Regulations has led to the reform of accounting standards. We ascertain the opinion of Spanish economist-accountants following this change, analyzing the time effect and the degree of understanding of new requirements. The results of four successive surveys are studied to analyze how the reform of the regulation is applied in practice. We conclude that the complexity encountered by economist-accountants when facing regulatory changes varies significantly over time, as does their initial understanding of it. Economist-Accountants´ perceptions change during the analyzed period and the different changes in the regulation. Professionals prefer the reform and the adaptation of the Spanish legal system to IFRS to the direct IFRS application in Spain. The explicit contribution of this paper is that the practical point of view, large efforts to prior training and new knowledge must be taken into account by the regulator. In addition, a long term perspective is required. The results can be a useful example for coping with changes related to accounting regulation in countries with similar characteristics