An Empirical Investigation of the Perceived Suitability of International Accounting Standards for Jordan

Abstract

This study investigates the perceived suitability of the international accounting standards among the Jordanian preparers, users and auditors. Multivariate analysis and non‐parametric statistics are applied to test hypotheses. The t‐test was used to measure the suitability of IAS to the Jordanian environment. The results indicated that IASC is a neutral body and therefore is capable of producing neutral and relevant accounting standards that might be applied by developing countries. The ANOVA and the Chisquare tests were applied to test variation in the perceived suitability of IAS to the Jordanian environment. The results indicated that the type of audit firm, years of experience and type of experience affected the respondents’ views towards the suitability of IAS to Jordan. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the most influential factor affecting the adoption of IAS in Jordan. The results indicated that the local need for foreign investments and international audit firms were the most influential factors while local and foreign investors in addition to the international audit firms are the biggest beneficiaries of that adoption. Finally, this study found that no attempt had been made by the Jordanian regulators to benefit from the past experience of other developing countries. The respondents believed that in order to increase the reliability of Jordanian financial information IAS were quickly adopted without any discussion as to whether each IAS was suitable to the Jordanian context.

Citation

Halbouni, S. (2005), "An Empirical Investigation of the Perceived Suitability of International Accounting Standards for Jordan", Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 73-102. https://doi.org/10.1108/10264116200500004