Perceived Benefits of IFRS Adoption in Morocco and French Speaking Sub-Saharan African Countries

Abstract

This chapter aims to study, by using a sample of 75 practitioners and researchers in accounting, the consequences of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption on the qualitative characteristics of financial reporting in 12 African countries: Morocco and 11 French speaking Sub-Saharan African Countries. Two main findings can be highlighted in this research. Firstly, more than half of all Moroccan- and French-speaking Sub-Saharan African respondents consider that the adoption of IFRS improves “highly” or “very highly” the reliability (52%), the relevance (57.4%), and the comparability (54.7%) of their financial reporting. Secondly, Moroccan professionals and researchers in accounting are more concerned than their French-speaking Sub-Saharan African colleagues by the adoption of IFRS to improve the relevance and the understandability of the financial reporting. For the two other qualitative characteristics (reliability and comparability), the difference in means is not significant.