Financial reporting quality for banks in Egypt and the UAE

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of financial reporting quality for banks in Egypt and the UAE over the period 2008 to 2013. Multiple regression analysis is used to test the relationship between financial reporting quality as a dependent variable and certain independent variables. The results indicate that international financial reporting standards, global financial crisis, accounting conservatism, market structure in terms of concentration and intellectual capital performance for banks in Egypt and the UAE have a significant impact on financial reporting quality but bank size and market structure in terms of efficiency have not. These results might help the banking and accounting regulators to address the factors affecting financial reporting quality. In addition, it provides useful comparative information for investors and hence helps them to make informed decisions. It is one of a few studies which address the impact of the nature of accounting standards on financial reporting quality in emerging economies through investigating the impact of IFRS adopted by the UAE Banks and local accounting standards adopted by the Egyptian banks on financial reporting quality. In addition, the study, for the first time, is exploring whether intellectual capital performance may be an underlying determinant of financial reporting quality