Practical Issues in Education and Adoption of IFRS: Evidence from Russia

Anna Vysotskaya,Y Bora Senyigit

doi:10.17015/ejbe.2021.028.01

Abstract

This paper examines how the recognition and spread of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have affected accounting practices and accounting education in Russia. We use evidence from Russia as a case study to provide a historical perspective on the changes in its accounting system and analyze the translation and communication difficulties in accounting practices and education. By conducting Russian accounting textbooks’ content analysis, we highlight IFRS translation issues in order to investigate the positional statement of the problems regarding the challenges with IFRS education. We also discover the current difficulties in teaching IFRS-based accounting to non-English speakers. Our findings outline the interrelation between the educational approach and practical applications of the existing knowledge on financial reporting. Finally, this research addresses the nature of the challenges that emerge due to the linguistic translations of the IFRS. We consider this paper will be of particular interest for non-native English-language speakers, including academics, practitioners, and standard setters.

Highlights

Discussion of whether the translations of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) into different languages meet the goals of their nature is still open
Since the paper is devoted to the analysis of the accounting system development in Russia, it looks at the history, translations, and educational issues of IFRS in order to provide a broader perspective of this arena and to contribute to the issues of finding common mistakes and, in contrast, the best practice in IFRS implementation process
This is done by describing the overall context of accounting education and experience in implementing IFRS within the existing accounting system and the system of higher education in Russia

Summary

Introduction

International standardization attempts are keeping going on all over the world (De George et al, 2016). Discussion of whether the translations of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) into different languages meet the goals of their nature is still open. The rise and spread of global standards affected accounting all over the world. In this regard, non-English speaking countries have challenged different difficulties during the IFRS implementation process. The IFRS are proposed, discussed, and issued in English by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) under the influence of the Anglo-Saxon accounting culture. Accepted financial reporting standards undergo multi-language translations in order to be used by interested parties across the world. Cultural, political, and legal environments significantly affect how financial reporting standards are interpreted and applied in that country (Alexander et al, 2018)

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Conclusion