Big data analytics capabilities for IFRS 9 success

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, financial reporting standards have proven inadequate in providing sound governance. With financial data being heavily dependent on information systems, a new standard, IFRS 9, is being adopted. IFRS 9 could leverage recent advancements in big data ana-lytics capabilities to improve financial compliance and assurance. While such potential is widely acknowledged, big data analytics capabilities have not yet been adequately identified and validated in the context of financial reporting compliance. In addressing such discrepancy, this study attempts to explore the relationship between a firm’s capability to conduct big data analytics and their perception of IT applications leveraged for compliance with the standard. This study identifies four constituent capabilities and provides empirical validation for their interrelation with a holistic big data analytics construct. It addresses the link between capabilities and perceived IFRS 9 benefits by a range of insti-tutional stakeholders. The findings suggest that analytics governance, analytics personnel capabilities, and Big Data characteristics have a significant influence on big data analytics capabilities. The latter was found to have a significant relationship with perceived benefits of IFRS 9. These findings hold im-portant implications to theory and practice given the impending mass adoption of IFRS 9.