Achieving global convergence of financial reporting standards: implications from the South Pacific Region

This research monograph examines whether International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are interpreted and applied in a consistent manner within and across countries and questions the implicit assumption that accounting convergence will automatically lead to comparability in financial reporting.

A review of the accounting judgment and decision making research published in the five top-tier accounting journals over the last forty years shows that there is a limited number of studies that have examined the importance of consistency in interpreting and applying a single set of accounting standards.

Furthermore, the monographs and reviews on audit judgment and decision making research published over the years have strengthened this strand of research in auditing by providing insights and suggesting avenues for future research.

However, limited comprehensive reviews have been published so far for the research undertaken in the domain of accounting judgment.

The first part of this monograph reviews the accounting judgment and decision making research published during 1970 - 2010 in the five top-tier accounting journals.

It evaluates the characteristics and significance of these studies, their theoretical and methodological strengths and weaknesses, and suggests avenues for future research.

The insights it provides into accounting judgment and decision making research may be useful for improving the research method, theory development and hypotheses formulation stages of future studies.

The analysis presented in this study may also provide the necessary impetus to strengthen this strand of research in accounting in the future.