The effect of IFRS mandatory adoption on the information asymmetry

Abstract

This paper examines whether the mandatory adoption of IFRS/IAS in the European Union is beneficial in terms of the information content of earnings. The informational relevance of earnings was reflected by the level of information asymmetry measured by the cost of capital and the financial analysts’ forecasts. So, the article purpose is to study the impact of IFRS adoption on the cost of capital and on the financial analysts’ forecasts. Using an unbalanced panel data of firm—year observations spanning from 2002 to 2012, we hypothesize and empirically find the following. First, IFRS adoption represents a key determinant of information asymmetry reduction, as it contributes significantly to the decrease in the capital cost for the post-IFRS period. Second, the adoption of these international standards has significantly contributed to the improvement of financial analysts’ forecasts reflected by an enhancement of the forecasts properties, a decrease in dispersion and error. The results contribute to the literature dealing with the additional informational content stemming from IFRS mandatory adoption. The originality of this study consists primarily in the use of a long analysis period which eliminates any bias relating to the period of learning and understanding of IFRS and any bias related to the financial crisis started in 2007 and secondly in the use of two measurements of information asymmetry which makes the results obtained more robust.

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