In this paper, we review the regulations and research on the adoption of international accounting and audit standards in eleven Eastern European countries outside of the European Union. We find many regulatory commonalities among these jurisdictions related to their Communist-bloc heritage. The state remains the most important stakeholder and tax accounting dominates financial reporting. The work of local auditors is considered less reliable than that of their Big 4 counterparts. International organizations and the Big 4 auditors provide stimuli for and assistance with international standards’ adoption. Accounting and audit research is limited. The scarcity of data forces most authors to focus on the qualitative evaluation of accounting and audit reforms. Some opt for surveys. Few papers include empirical analyses. Our review covers jurisdictions, which have received limited attention in prior literature. We inform future empirical work and speak to the generalizability of previous research findings to this set of countries.
In this paper, we review regulatory changes surrounding the adoption of international accounting and auditing standards in 11 Central and Eastern European countries that are European Union (EU) members. Additionally, we examine the English-language research related to these changes in each jurisdiction. We find many commonalities associated with the countries' Communist past and the process of joining the EU. While many studies are being conducted in four of the countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia), such research is sparse in the remaining seven jurisdictions, primarily due to data availability. English-language audit research is particularly lacking. Our review outlines future research avenues and emphasizes country characteristics that must be addressed when any of the jurisdictions are a part of an international sample. Moreover, we enable international research readers to assess the generalizability of extant research findings.
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