Eastern and Western European firms public and private information quality: The comparative impact of degree of implementation of IFRS

Abstract

We investigate the quality of public and private information environments between Western European or Eastern European firms. We find that the quality of private information is higher for Eastern European than for Western European firms and the quality of public information is higher for Western European than for Eastern European firms. Further, the degree of implementation of IFRS increases the quality of public information and decreases the quality of private information for both Eastern European and Western European countries with decreasing marginal benefits. Nonetheless we find IFRS comparatively more beneficial for firms from Eastern European countries than for firms from Western European countries.