A Comparative study of judgements of Chinese and Australian accountants

International convergence of financial reporting with adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by more than 120 countries has increasingly been recognized as an important and controversial topic. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is largely responsible for developing IFRS and the approach adopted by the IASB for developing IFRS is called ‘substance over form’. This approach requires accountants exercising their judgments in interpreting and applying IFRS. Implicit in the drive for worldwide adoption of IFRS is the belief that a single set of accounting standards will result in a greater level of comparability across countries, and importantly, the IASB assume that accounting standards are neutral and value free. However, a single set of accounting standards may not be sufficient to ensure that accountants in different countries consistently interpret and apply standards in the same way and consequently comparability may be impaired. As such, this paper empirically examines influences of culture and personality variables on judgments of Australian and Chinese accountants relating to the preparation of consolidated financial statements.