Benefits and Challenges of International Financial Reporting Standards Adoption in Ghana: Accounts and Business Managers’ Perspective

Abstract

The objective of the study was to identify benefits and challenges associated with the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRSs) in Ghana from account and business managers’ perspective. The study used purposive sampling to collect data from 187 accounting professionals and managers in all business sectors of Ghana. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. A Kruskal-Wallis H non-parametric tests (KW) was conducted to determine whether there are statistically significant differences of perception among five groups of the level of professional affiliation and six groups of role and position. The results revealed that the adoption of the IFRSs has among other benefits, increase the quality of accounting information, increased investors’ confidence, increase comparability of financial statement among companies both nationally and internationally, reduced the cost of equity capital, made the preparation and auditing of financial statement very transparent and easier. The findings also revealed that though the cost of implementation was very high and accounts and business managers’ faced some challenges in the implementation of the standards, the benefit derived from its implementation outweighed the challenges. Respondents perceived that IFRSs is too complicated for adoption by SMEs. They recommend that more training is needed to equip professionals in the effective implementation of IFRSs.

The paper recommends that ICAG should conduct regular training for their members, other implementers as well as owners and operators of SMEs on the IFRSs especially on the emerging standards.