5. Conclusions, policy making issues and limitations
This study contributes to the literature on the IFRS implementation experiences of emerging economies. Most importantly, the study finds that a high level of political in- fluence adds more apprehension to the effective implementation of IFRS. The findings reveal that the accounting regulatory framework and political influences are both hindering the effective implementation of IFRS in Bangladesh. Most notably, with regard to accounting regulation, some issues were found such as inconsistencies between the local regulations and IFRS, stakeholders’ nonparticipation in the accounting standards-setting process, multiple regulators, and a lack of enforcement. With respect to political influences, the issues included democratic government’s unwillingness to pass an IFRS Act, the corruption involved in donor agencies’ funding, corruption in the corporate sector and repeated violations of practices without penalty. The military-backed government was more effective than the democratic government in taking action against companies identified as being corrupt. It is found that companies often escaped penalties because of their political connections with the government. The findings also reveal that accountants and auditors need training to apply highly sophisticated and voluminous global standards such as the IFRS (Huerta et al., 2013). Lack of technical capacity poses a significant barrier to effective implementation of IFRS. The state institutions and professional bodies in Bangladesh are blaming each other regarding the lack of progress in the IFRS implementation process. This could be because ‘the blame game’ is aimed at attempting to remove power and responsibility from other institutions in order to facilitate legitimacy and increase the scope of government bureaucracy.
