International Financial Reporting Standards, Board Governance and Accounting Quality: Preliminary Ghanaian Evidence

Abstract

IFRS adoption’s effect and board governance on accounting quality from Ghanaian perspective was examined using OLS technique between a seven-year periods (2013-2019). From the study, IFRS adoption negatively impacts accounting quality in an insignificant manner. The insignificant nexus was due to lax implementation of regulations by institutions with IFRS and incentive-performance tied schemes presented to managers. Additionally, all but profitability and institutional ownership have positively significant impact on accounting quality whilst board governance negatively affect accounting quality though not statistically significant. Finally, moderating the role of board governance on IFRS - accounting quality relation, evidence established from the regression is that board governance does not moderate relationship between IFRS adoption and accounting quality using discretionary accruals. Our study captured effective corporate governance practices using composite board governance index to moderate effect of IFRS on the nexus between board governance and accounting quality serving as central motivation to contribute to literature.