IFRS Adoption and Value Relevance of Accounting Information: Evidence from a Developing Country

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) adoption on value relevance of accounting information in Sri Lanka by comparing value relevance of accounting information in pre- and post-IFRS adoption periods. This study employs Ohlson (1995, Contemporary Accounting Research, 11(2), 661-687) price regression model to explain value relevance of accounting information. It explains market value per share (MVPS) using earning per share (EPS) and book value of equity per share (BVEPS). The pre-IFRS period is designated as 2010 through to 2011, and the post-IFRS period is designated as 2012 through to 2014. The sample comprises 188 firms and 935 firm-year observations which nearly constitute to all firms listed in Colombo Stock Exchange except those not having at least two annual reports before and after the year 2012 and those having extreme and incomplete data. It is found that both BVEPS and EPS significantly and positively explain MVPS during the periods followed by IFRS adoption although EPS was not a significant predictor of MVPS prior to IFRS adoption. Pooled regression with data of both regimes, however, maintains that BVEPS and EPS significantly and positively explain MVPS. Although the overall predictive power of value relevance model improved in the years that followed IFRS adoption, value relevance of BVEPS has declined in post-IFRS implementation. However, the decline in value relevance of BVEPS perhaps has been compensated by improved quality of earning thereby making EPS as a significant predictor of market value of equity in the post-IFRS periods. These findings were not rebutted or changed even at the exclusion of the transitional year of 2012 from the sample. This study contributes to the extant value relevance literature and IFRS studies by investigating the impact of IFRS adoption in a developing economy and for the first time in Sri Lanka.