International accounting standards in French companies in the 1990s: an institutionalization contested by US GAAP
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 21 August 2020
Issue publication date: 4 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The paper analyzes four cases of IAS adoption (Aérospatiale in 1989; Usinor in 1991; Coflexip in 1993; and Péchiney in 1995) to better understand the instructional logics behind the use of alternative or additional standards by French companies in the early 1990s.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs multiple case studies to explain how and why the heterogeneity of adoption (IAS versus US GAAP) is a response to institutional complexity.
Findings
This research shows that French companies adopted IAS as long as they were not required to use US GAAP by their financial backers. The results highlight how the companies combine logics to respond to the complexification of the field. The authors outline how endorsement of logics by outside carriers (auditors, financial analysts, stock exchange commissions) and framing of logics by managers evolve in time and space within this complexification process.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the institutional complexity literature in that it focuses on distinct organizational responses to multiple institutional logics. More precisely, the choice of standards in primary consolidated accounts are viewed as an organizational response to compatible and conflicting demands from several levels: home countries, transnational areas and host countries with the aim of raising funds in the US.
Originality/value
This research makes a distinct link between institutional complexity and international accounting standards and US GAAP.
Keywords
Citation
Touron, P. and Daly, P. (2020), "International accounting standards in French companies in the 1990s: an institutionalization contested by US GAAP", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 33 No. 8, pp. 2027-2051. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-04-2017-2899
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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