An investigation into the suitability of the international accounting standards to the United Arab Emirates environment

Khaled Aljifri, Hussein Khasharmeh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study is an attempt to investigate empirically the suitability of the international accounting standards (IASs) to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) environment. A variety of parametric and nonparametric approaches were used to examine the underlying factors that could affect the level of adoption of IASs and to evaluate the suitability of such adoption to the UAE environment. The major finding of this study is that the companies examined have vigorously adopted IASs and 87 percent of the companies disclosed their financial information in the English language which can be considered as a robust factor for adopting IASs. This study finds that the size of the companies (as measured by total assets) in the UAE has a significant effect on the level of adoption of IASs. However, the type of sector and the trading status (listed or unlisted) have no significant effect on the level of adoption of IASs. This study also tests to determine if a general consensus exists between the user groups of financial information (auditors, brokers, finance managers, and financial analysts) regarding their perception of the adoption of IASs in the UAE. It is found that there is a general consensus among the user groups on the suitability of adoption of IASs in the UAE.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)505-526
Number of pages22
JournalInternational Business Review
Volume15
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2006

Keywords

  • Harmonization
  • IAS
  • IASB
  • IFRS
  • International accounting standards
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Voluntary disclosure

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Business and International Management
  • Finance
  • Marketing

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'An investigation into the suitability of the international accounting standards to the United Arab Emirates environment'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this