The impact of IFRS implementation on Greek listed companies

George Iatridis and Konstantia Dalla

International Journal of Managerial Finance, 2011, vol. 7, issue 3, 284-303

Abstract: Purpose - While the Greek GAAP is stakeholder‐oriented and commonly viewed as a historical cost accounting model, IFRS is shareholder‐oriented and generally perceived as a fair‐value accounting model. The study seeks to investigate the effects of adopting IFRSs on the financial statements of Greek listed companies. It focuses on major Greek industrial sectors and stock market indices and investigates the effects of IFRS adoption on company financial position and performance. Design/methodology/approach - A binary logistic regression has been applied in order to capture the differences between the pre‐official adoption and official adoption periods. The model focuses on 2004 and 2005. The dependent variable is a dummy variable and takes the following values: 1 for 2005 and 0 for 2004. Findings - The study shows that IFRS implementation has influenced positively the profitability of most industrial sectors as well as those firms that belong to FTSE 40 and SMALLCAP 80. IFRS adoption appears to negatively influence liquidity for a number of industrial sectors and stock market constituents. An increase in leverage is obtained from the examination of the sample stock market indices and industrial sectors. Similar findings are evidenced for firms of large size and high financing needs. Research limitations/implications - The study is limited in the following respects. The results reflect short‐term timing differences, which may reverse in later accounting periods. Also, companies should have anticipated IFRS adoption and might have adjusted their accounting policies accordingly, or even managed their reported numbers, in the period under investigation, since the EU Regulation passed in 2002. Originality/value - The findings of the study are useful for investors, shareholders, financial analysts and other market participants as they provide information about the impact of IFRS implementation per major sector and market index. The effects would be expected to vary as each sector and market index carries different financial attributes. Users of accounting information could make use of the findings of the study for the evaluation of the financial performance and prospects of a sector/index and for other investment decision‐making purposes. The study also contributes to the literature as it focuses on a code law country that is stakeholder‐oriented.

Keywords: International finance; Industrial sectors; Stock market indices; Firm size; Financing needs; Accounting standards; Greece (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijmfpp:v:7:y:2011:i:3:p:284-303

DOI: 10.1108/17439131111144478

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Managerial Finance is currently edited by Dr Alfred Yawson

More articles in International Journal of Managerial Finance from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().