Analyst Following and Forecast Accuracy After Mandated IFRS Adoptions
研究了强制采用国际财务报告准则如何影响分析师跟踪和预测准确性，发现吸引了更多外国分析师并提高了其预测准确性，但对本地分析师预测准确性无显著影响。
This study investigates how accounting harmonization affects one particular group of financial statement users-financial analysts. We find that mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption attracts foreign analysts, particularly those from countries that are simultaneously adopting IFRS along with the covered firm's country and those with prior IFRS experience. We also find that mandatory IFRS adoption improves foreign analysts' forecast accuracy. The change in analyst following increases with the distance between prior local Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and IFRS and with the extent to which IFRS adoption eliminates GAAP differences between the firm's country and the analyst's country. IFRS adoption also attracts more local analysts, particularly those with prior IFRS experience and with an international portfolio prior to mandated IFRS adoption in their home country. Local analysts' forecast accuracy is not affected by IFRS adoption. Overall, our results suggest that accounting harmonization brings comparability benefits that enhance the usefulness of accounting data.