We examine whether the mandated introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is associated with the propensity to access the public rather than private debt market and the cost of debt. We use a global sample of public bonds and private loans and find that mandatory IFRS adopters are more likely, post-IFRS, to issue bonds than to borrow privately. We also find that mandatory IFRS adopters pay lower bond yield spreads, but not lower loan spreads, after the mandate. These findings are consistent with debt providers responding positively to financial reporting of higher quality and comparability, but only when there is a greater reliance on publicly available financial statements than private communication. Lastly, we document that the observed debt market benefits are concentrated in countries with larger differences between domestic GAAP and IFRS and are present even for EU
Does mandatory IFRS adoption facilitate debt financing?
Florou, Annita
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2015-01-01
Abstract
We examine whether the mandated introduction of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is associated with the propensity to access the public rather than private debt market and the cost of debt. We use a global sample of public bonds and private loans and find that mandatory IFRS adopters are more likely, post-IFRS, to issue bonds than to borrow privately. We also find that mandatory IFRS adopters pay lower bond yield spreads, but not lower loan spreads, after the mandate. These findings are consistent with debt providers responding positively to financial reporting of higher quality and comparability, but only when there is a greater reliance on publicly available financial statements than private communication. Lastly, we document that the observed debt market benefits are concentrated in countries with larger differences between domestic GAAP and IFRS and are present even for EUI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
