Capital Market Effects of Mandatory IFRS Reporting in the EU: Empirical Evidence

85 Pages Posted: 13 Dec 2009 Last revised: 20 Nov 2011

See all articles by Luzi Hail

Luzi Hail

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Christian Leuz

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Leibniz Institute SAFE; CESifo Research Network; Center for Financial Studies (CFS)

Date Written: October 15, 2007

Abstract

This report provides a review of the academic literature relevant to the mandatory adoption of IFRS reporting for member countries of the European Union in 2005 and an empirical analysis of the associated capital-market effects. In the empirical analysis, we focus on the effects on firms' costs of capital and market liquidity. More specifically, we analyze the effect of mandated IFRS reporting on the implied cost of equity capital, percentage bid-ask spreads, the price impact of trades and the frequency of zero-return days. The analysis provides a mixed picture for the capital-market effects of mandatory IFRS reporting in the EU. For the mandatory IFRS period, we find some evidence that the cost of capital is lower for all firms reporting under IFRS and for those that adopted IFRS for the first time in 2005 (relative to non-IFRS firms). The effects are small in magnitude and depend on the choice of benchmark sample. However, it is possible that the results are weakened by anticipation effects in markets ahead of IFRS adoption. The liquidity proxies provide stronger results that are robust across different benchmarks. In particular, the findings for the price impact of trades and for the frequency of zero-return days suggest improvements in market liquidity after IFRS reporting becomes mandatory. The results for the bid-ask spreads point in the same direction, but are weaker. The results for all three liquidity proxies become statistically significant when we introduce firm-fixed effects. However, we caution to attribute the observed effects solely or even primarily to the adoption of IFRS itself. Recently many EU countries have changed their enforcement (and governance) regimes, which could play an important role in our findings.

Keywords: Regulation, International accounting, European Union, IAS, Disclosure, Market liquidity, Cost of equity

JEL Classification: G14, G15, G30, K22, M41, M42

Suggested Citation

Hail, Luzi and Leuz, Christian, Capital Market Effects of Mandatory IFRS Reporting in the EU: Empirical Evidence (October 15, 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1511671 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1511671

Luzi Hail

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School ( email )

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European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

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Christian Leuz (Contact Author)

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/christian.leuz/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://www.nber.org

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

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European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

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Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://www.ecgi.org

Leibniz Institute SAFE ( email )

(http://www.safe-frankfurt.de)
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Germany

CESifo Research Network

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Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Center for Financial Studies (CFS) ( email )

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Germany

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