Relationship Between Accounting Conservatism and Investment Efficiency with the Moderating Role of IFRS Adoption in Pakistan

ABSTRACT This study investigated the mandatory role of IFRS adoption in the association of accounting conservatism and investment efficiency in Pakistan. The study applied the model of Basu's (1997) to measure the conditional accounting conservatism for timely recognition of expected loss and gain. For empirical analysis, the study took a sample of 165 firms listed at Pakistan Stock Exchange and employed panel data methodology over the data of 2008-2017. Firms size, leverage, return on assets, and growth are taken as control variables to assess the relationship between accounting conservatism and investment efficiency. Findings of the study revealed that conditional accounting conservatism significantly affected the firms’ investment efficiency with the mandatory adoption of IFRS in Pakistan. IFRS adoption enhanced the firms’ investment efficiency and motivated to adopt the principle of accounting conservatism for recognizing the expected losses in timely manner in order to achieve investment efficiency. Timely recognition of expected losses played an important role in reducing agency problems and asymmetric information. In Pakistani setting, it is the pioneer study which highlighted the importance of accounting conservatism in protecting the surplus resources of investors and enhancing the overall investment efficiency under mandatory adoption of IFRS. These findings offer policy implications for focusing on the adaptation of IFRS in Pakistan.