The adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards in a non-colonized developing country: The case of Nepal

The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic and rigorous analysis of the accounting environment in Nepal. Based on the accounting ecology framework developed by Gernon and Wallace (1995) and interviewing selected key stakeholders, it critically examines issues related to the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Nepal. It contributes to the literature by examining issues associated with the adoption of IFRS in a non-colonized developing country. This study finds that the decision to adopt IFRS in Nepal is not driven by the needs of local organizations and is rather imposed by donor organizations such as the Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The findings of this study provide evidence that the adoption of IFRS is likely to be problematic due to the country's contextual environment. Specifically, there is a severe lack of qualified accountants in Nepal and the accounting profession is not ready to adopt IFRS. The study also finds that social problems such as widespread corruption and fraud are likely to cause problems for the adoption of IFRS.