IFRS Adoption in the E.U., accounting harmonization and market efficiency: a review

Abstract

As of 1st January 2005 all European listed companies had to adopt IAS/IFRS in order to prepare their consolidated financial statements. Five years later, the paper analyses the advancements in the accounting harmonisation process within European countries and between E.U. and the rest of the world, overviewing the first available evidences on financial market efficiency. The paper has three main objectives. It aims at providing a state-of-the-art of the process of IFRS adoption in the E.U. pointing out the positive observable effects and the main drawbacks and at reviewing the existent literature developed during the last years on this subject. Finally, it aims at identifying some interesting and so far not explored research areas. JEL Classification: M41International Financial Accounting Standards; European Union;International accounting Harmonization; Convergence