• yThe impact of IFRS 8 on analyst forecast accurac

Research Abstract

While the IASB has eliminated virtually all of the differences between US GAAP and IFRS with respect to segment reporting, in that IFRS 8 is essentially a copy of the US SFAS 131, the quality of segment disclosure after IFRS 8 is under question with the European Parliament endorsing IFRS8 only after a great deal of scrutiny and much debate. This paper responds to the call by IASB (2013) for evidence on the usefulness of IFRS 8; it investigates how the anticipated changes in the quantity of information disclosed and geographical fineness of that information affects analysts’ earnings forecasts and how the enforcement reshapes this impact using a sample from EU countries for the period 2007 to 2011. The findings reveal that the fineness of geographical information and the quantity of segment information are associated with more accurate forecast of earnings following IFRS 8. Moreover, the results suggest that enforcement plays a pivotal role in reshaping the impact of the principles based IFRS8. These findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the quality of segment information under the management approach and the role of accounting regulation enforcement. It also provides evidence on the usefulness of country by country reporting.

Research Keywords

IFRS 8, Enforcement, EU, analysts’ earnings forecasts