The globalization of markets and companies has increased the demand for internationally comparable high quality accounting information resulting from a common set of accounting rules. Despite remarkable efforts of international harmonization for more than 25 years, accounting regulation is still...

EU Regulation requires that any international accounting standards (IFRS) and interpretations (IFRIC) pronounced by the IASB meet three sets of criteria before they become binding for EU-based companies: a ‘true and fair view' criterion, a list of qualitative criteria, and a ‘European public...

This paper examines the implications of mandatory IFRS adoption on the accounting quality of banks in twelve EU countries. Specifically, we analyse how the change in the recognition and measurement of banks' main operating accrual item, the loan loss provision, affects income smoothing behaviour...