Investment decision impact of differential international accounting disclosures on professional financial analysts: A behavioral study

The globalization of capital markets and the diversity of accounting standards and reporting practices have accelerated the debate on harmonization of accounting and reporting rules. Users of financial and accounting information need a framework of accounting standards by which performance of multinational companies can be evaluated to make investment decisions.; This research study focuses on the impact of differential accounting disclosures on the professional securities/financial analysts, who play an important role in the capital markets.; The experimental subjects in this behavioral research were divided into two groups. One group was presented with financial and accounting information of a multinational European company, adjusted by International Accounting Standards, and the other group was presented with financial and accounting information of the same company, adjusted by U.S. GAAP.; Behavioral accounting research has shown that the cognitive process that precedes decision-making is influenced by a multitude of factors, task and dimensional complexity, time pressures, decision environment, and utility measures. No one study can possibly include variables that will address all such factors. This behavioral study used seven survey variables to test seven hypotheses. Statistical tests found that there is no significant impact of the different types of disclosures on the decision outcomes of the selected analysts. Future research could use other factors.