EFRAG-supported academic study sheds light on costs and benefits of the IFRS 15 adoption
EFRAG has published the EFRAG-supported academic study Intended and Unintended Consequences of IFRS 15 adoption, which assesses the impact of the adoption of IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (the Standard) based on survey and interview-based data gathered from preparers and users of financial statements. The study was conducted by a research team led by Beatriz García Osma from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Jacobo Gomez-Conde from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Araceli Mora from Universidad de Valencia.
The study focused on addressing the following broad research questions:
How do regulatory changes impact financial reporting in terms of the relevance and usefulness of the information produced for users?
To what extent have management control systems changed as a result of the IFRS 15 implementation and thereby affected the decision-making process of entities?
The findings of the study shed light on the costs (both one-off and ongoing costs) faced by preparers as well as the benefits (for both preparers and users) of implementing the Standard. They also highlight users' perceptions with respect to a) the effects of the Standard on the financial statements; and b) the analytical benefits of the Standard's disclosures including on users' ability to forecast future earnings and cash flows. These findings were incorporated into EFRAG's comment letter published on 27 October 2023 in response to the IASB Request for Information on the post-implementation review of IFRS 15.
The study is available here.