IFRS and conditional accounting conservatism: An empirical study of banks in Egypt and the UAE

Abstract

The aim of the study is to explore the determinants of conditional accounting conservatism for banks in Egypt and the UAE over the period 2008-2013. Multiple regression techniques are used to investigate the relationship between conditional accounting conservatism as a dependent variable and the independent variables represented by international financial reporting standards (IFRS), Global financial crisis, level of market competition, bank size and bank age. The results revealed that IFRS, Global financial crisis, level of market competition, have significant influence but bank size and bank age have no significant influence on conditional accounting conservatism for banks in Egypt and the UAE. These results are expected to be beneficial for the banking and accounting regulators to recognize the factors which are important in explaining the reasons for the practice of conditional accounting conservatism. This study contributes to the literature on the causes of conditional accounting conservatism in banks at the emerging economies context through investigating whether accounting environment has an impact on conditional accounting conservatism in the banking industry in Egypt with local accounting standards environment compared to the UAE with IFRS environment and this should lead to a better understanding for the role of accounting environment in explaining conditional accounting conservatism.