THE IMPACT OF IFRS FOR SMES ON THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION: EVIDENCE FROM FIJI

Fazeena Fazneen Hussain, Priyashni Vandana Chand and Prena Rani

Accounting & Taxation, 2012, vol. 4, issue 2, 107-118

Abstract: At the turn of the millennium, the many corporate collapses and fraudulent financial reporting practices tarnished the reputation of accountants and resulted in a credibility crisis for the accounting profession. The profession responded by developing IFRS and IFRS for SMEs that would assist in achieving a more transparent and principles-based financial reporting framework. Fiji is not far behind from other developed countries when it comes to adoption of international reporting standards as this is evidenced by the early adoption of IFRS by large reporting entities beginning January, 2007 and IFRS for SMEs by small and medium-sized entities from January, 2011. Unlike the non-big 4 accountancy firms (local firms) in Fiji, the big 4 firms (PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Ernst and Young and G.Lal) have necessary resources and expertise to assist in adoption of international reporting standards like IFRS and IFRS for SMEs. This study therefore, examines the preparedness, capacity and challenges faced by big 4 and non-big 4 accounting firms in dealing with IFRS for SMEs in Fiji through in depth interviews. The results show the big 4 have a competitive advantage over the non-big 4 as they have substantial resources, expertise and receive training support from their global network.

Keywords: IFRS for SMEs; Profession; Emerging Economies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.theibfr2.com/RePEc/ibf/acttax/at-v4n2-2012/AT-V4N2-2012-10.pdf (application/pdf)

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:ibf:acttax:v:4:y:2012:i:2:p:107-118

Access Statistics for this article

Accounting & Taxation is currently edited by Terrance Jalbert

More articles in Accounting & Taxation from The Institute for Business and Finance Research
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mercedes Jalbert ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).