Global financial reporting convergence: A study of the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards by the Swedish accountancy profession

Abstract

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is a financial reporting standard for listed corporations in more than half of the world’s countries. This wide adoption combined with its influence on accounting in countries that have not formally adopted it makes IFRS a remarkable case of far-reaching convergence. This paper develops a framework that integrates institutional theory and political economy and employs a discourse analytical approach to address the issue of why the Swedish accountancy profession came to accept and adopt IFRS. The analysis covers the professional debates regarding the measurement of the value of assets and liabilities in the main professional journal over the nearly two decades in which IFRS was gradually integrated into the local accounting standards on a voluntary basis prior to its formal adoption. The analysis emphasizes the combination of a pervasive international development discourse that stresses the significance of financial markets developing into a sense of inevitability and an elite portion of the accountancy profession with a vested interest in change. IFRS can be seen as a strategic professionalization project for the elite members of the accountancy profession which, combined with financial interests, led to its endorsement of the changes and alignment with forces of financialization.