THE IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS ON COURSE COVERAGE IN THE U.S. ACCOUNTING CURRICULA: EMPIRICAL STUDY

Melissa Aldredge
Glen Cooley
Sarah DuBois
Northwestern State University

ABSTRACT

The financial statements of U.S. publicly held companies have historically been prepared
based on the well-established reporting standards known as Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles (GAAP). Over the last decade, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
has been considering a move to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for
companies under its jurisdiction. The U. S. move to IFRS will involve numerous capital market
stakeholders and have significant implications for the state of U.S. higher education accounting
programs. This study examined the attitudes of accounting educators toward U.S. IFRS
convergence and the influence educator characteristics and uncertainties surrounding its
adoption have had on IFRS coverage in the classroom.
The results of the overall binary logistic regression indicated that the model was
significantly predictive. However, further analysis of the correlations among individual constructs
revealed that only one factor, IFRS familiarity, was significantly related to IFRS course coverage.
Academic rank, institution size, confidence of U.S. adoption of IFRS, and beliefs about the timing
of U.S. adoption of IFRS did not individually predict the likelihood of IFRS course coverage.
Suggestions for future research included assessing additional determinants of IFRS course
coverage, comparing IFRS perceptions among accounting stakeholder groups, and examining
IFRS teaching methods used by educators.

Keywords: Accounting Curricula, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, Securities and Exchange
Commission, International Financial Reporting Standards