“…Our study contributes to the literature in at least three ways. First, while most studies associate the mandatory IFRS with improvements in accountability, compliance, and disclosure (Cova, 2008), best corporate governance practices (Lourenço & Branco, 2015), ownership and control structures (Correia, Costa, & Lucena, 2017), and tax avoidance (Braga, 2017), our paper, on the other hand, sheds light on changes in indebtedness level due to IFRS adoption. Second, accounting standards in Brazil have historically aimed to disclose information primarily to the government, whereas international standards focus on the figure of investors as their main users (Ghio & Verona, 2015).…”