Adoption of International Accounting Standards in Emerging Countries: A Cultural Perspective

Abstract

The article aims at studying the adaptability of international accounting standards to emerging countries. We use a cultural approach based on the accounting subculture (Gray, 1988) that highlights the relationship between cultural dimensions (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity), and accounting values (professionalism vs. statutory control, uniformity vs. flexibility, conservatism vs. optimism and discretion vs. transparency). The cultural approach reveals the magnitude of adaptability of international accounting standards to emerging countries by considering the Tunisian example. Thus, we first identify the culture of the studied context by a questionnaire including the evolution tendency of this context. Secondly, we identify the cultural context required to adopt the international accounting referent. Our results reveal that the Tunisian cultural context is slightly different from that required for the adoption of the international referent. However, we have observed a process of convergence towards it.