Investigating the effects of the implementation of IFRS on financial report quality. Evidence from the Greek Banking Sector

Abstract

The financial system consists without doubt one of the most important determinants of the world national economies. The changes and challenges that the financial institutions face have a great impact on the economic growth of a country and the configuration of the economic environment of each economy. A healthy economy needs a stable financial system in order to convey capitals from the surplus economies to the deficits ones in order funds to be invested in the productive process. The structure and the function of the financial sector are differentiated from country to country and as a result there is a wide range of forms that financial institutions have. However, the main source of economic growth and stability plays the banking sector. The banking sector goes at the very heart of the financial system and its influence in national economies is critical as it deploys effectively the funds in an economy. The purpose of the current paper is to investigate the extent to which the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the Greek banking sector has affected their financial and narrative reporting between the periods prior (2002-2004) and after (2005-2007) the implementation of the IFRS regulatory accounting framework. The study analyses 14 commercial Greek banks and is regarded to present the effects of this alternation.