Voluntary adoption of accounting standards prior to implementation date

• Main Authors: Ang, Sock Cheng, Lim, Sio Hoon, Yong, William Chee Kee
• Other Authors: Pearl Tan Hock Neo
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Accounting::Standards
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62985
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

A s Singapore moves towards globalisation, the fulfillment of investor's information needs becomes more important. This project aims to assess the willingness of Singapore firms in the voluntary adoption of international accounting standards. An analysis of annual reports of public listed companies in Singapore was conducted to determine the extent of voluntary adoption of selected international accounting standards and the characteristics of firms that adopt international accounting standards prior to their implementation in Singapore. The results are analysed at two levels: analysis of adoption of individual standards and a combined analysis pertaining to all the selected accounting standards. In the first part, our results are matched against literature-based hypotheses on characteristics of firms that are likely to voluntarily adopt accounting standards before implementation. In the second part, our results are combined and compared with measurement and disclosure hypotheses based on Gray's cultural framework with reference to the Singapore context. This is to gain a better understanding of Singapore's overall financial reporting climate. Finally, this study ends with recommendations on what can be done to improve the attitudes of Singapore firms in the voluntary adoption of accounting standards.