Does mandatory IFRS adoption improve information quality in low investor protection countries?

Abstract

We examine the effect of mandatory IFRS adoption on the information quality of financial reporting in France, Germany and Sweden. These three Western European civil law countries are characterized as low investor protection by the World Economic Forum's 2012/2013 Global Competitiveness Report. Using data for 2003 and 2011, we find significant improvement in both forecast accuracy and forecast dispersion following mandatory IFRS adoption in all three countries. Furthermore, the effect on information quality is greater the lower the strength of investor protection. These results suggest that mandatory IFRS adoption in low investor protection countries leads to an improvement in information quality. A tentative implication of the results is that standard setters should not delay IFRS adoption pending regulators implementing a high investor protection.