Accountant's perception on the factors affecting the adoption of international financial reporting standards in Yemen

The purpose of this study is to examine the accountants’ perception of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) adoption and the requirement and expected period for the adoption of IFRSs in Yemeni companies. In addition, this study examines the accountants’ opinion whether or not the following factors government policy, capital market, economic growth, external environment/international
exposure, professional bodies, education level of accountants, company size, initial cost of IFRSs adoption and culture affect the adoption of IFRSs in Yemen. This study also examines the differences in opinion between academicians and
practitioners regarding IFRSs and factors which affect its adoption. Yemen has still not adopted the IFRSs. In this regard, this study carried out a survey using 48 Yemeni accounting postgraduate students in Malaysia’s public Universities to collected data, which was then analysed using SPSS. The results of this study show that the majority of respondents perceive the benefits of adopting IFRSs in Yemeni
companies. Moreover, majority of respondents (82.9%) agree that Yemeni companies should adopt IFRSs. About 58.6% of respondents expect the period of IFRSs adoption in Yemen to be within three to 10 years, while 41.5% expect it to be more than 10 years. The respondents believe that the lack of government policy,
absence of capital market, lack of economic growth, lack of professional bodies, weakness in the education level of accountants, the small size of the companies and initial cost of IFRSs adoption affect the adoption of IFRSs in Yemen. The study also shows that the international environment has a weak effect on IFRSs adoption while the Yemeni culture does not affect IFRS adoption. The results of this study may help policy-makers and the Yemeni Association of Certified Public Accountants
(YACPA) to make more precise decisions regarding IFRSs adoption in Yemen