Bewildered but better informed: a qualitative study of the changing attitudes of accountants and regulators to the introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the UK

This paper explores through two sets of interviews in 2001-2 and 2003-4 the changing attitudes and beliefs held by UK based financially literate individuals about key aspects of the adoption of IFRS in the EU in 2005 and the extent to which current problems with IFRS were foreseen. Interviewees continue to believe that the adoption of IFRS in the EU is a fundamentally good thing. Concerns grew about: the complexity of the accounting model; consistency of interpretation; the future of the UK ‘true and fair view’; financial reporting for smaller entities; but particularly about US influence over the development of IFRS (following FASB’s convergence agreement with the IASB) linked with a perceived decline in UK influence. The implementation of IFRS within the EU is seen as a ‘top down strategy’ which ignores the literature that accounting is ‘context specific’ and which also ignores the UK Government’s own principles for better regulation.