IFRS AND IPSAS CONVERGENCE IN INDIA - TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

University of Manchester Sarada R. KrishnanPhD Accounting and FinanceIFRS and IPSAS Convergence in India - Transnational PerspectivesABSTRACTIn common with other countries India has been drawn into a global trend of standardising national accounting practices with international norms to enhance its ability to attract inward foreign investment and gain increased access to global capital markets. In 2004, India committed itself to achieving convergence with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the public sector and in 2007 to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the private sector. Both sectors have taken the route to convergence with clear cut roadmaps being designed by the national accounting standard setters and the state.However, there has been a striking contrast in the decision-making processes and preparations for convergence in the two sectors. While the public sector made relatively good progress in terms of following the scheduled roadmap, the first roadmap issued for the private sector was scrapped, new deadlines were set and the roadmap was replaced in 2013 due to severe delays in the process which as of August 2016 have not yet been fully resolved. This cross-sector comparison is interesting because the contrasting decision-making scenarios in India exist despite the state being the central decision-maker in both sectors. Hence, while much existing literature on standardisation takes the decision to converge as a given and focuses on the implementation of IFRS or IPSAS, the purpose of this thesis is to examine the processes that led to the convergence decisions. Using a transnational governance theoretical lens, this thesis investigates the chaotic routes through which the idea of convergence travels before being finalised as an implementation decision, in both the public and private sectors in India. The research questions focus on unravelling the development of the convergence decision-making process in India, tracing the networks of national and transnational actors driving the process, analysing the two-way interactive dynamics between actors that shaped the process and examining the role of the state as the central decision-maker in the public and private sectors. The research methods included documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with key individuals in India, with substantial knowledge about the decision making with regards to convergence.Key empirical findings are as follows. Firstly, while in the early phases of decision-making, transnational influences, in the form of international financial institutions and standard setting agencies, were equally apparent in both sectors, in subsequent phases the transnational influences were greater and arguably more successful in the public than the private sector. Secondly, local resistance formed and was successful in delaying the project of IFRS convergence in the private sector. Local actors were successful in raising their concerns about, for example, fair value accounting and the impacts of IFRS accounting on taxation, and in the context of a turbulent political environment, their influence was powerful enough to cause delays. Thirdly, the empirics show the significance of foreign governments and inter-governmental regional networks as an important source of influence on the decision to delay IFRS convergence. Specifically, the study demonstrates how India's position was also affected by the decision of the US, a major trading partner, to delay its convergence with IFRS, and by the informal links with countries such as Japan, another significant economic counterpart. This thesis has three important areas of contributions. Firstly, it makes a significant methodological contribution by studying convergence as a process rather than an event by tracing the dynamics preceding the actual implementation of international accounting standards. Conducting a study in such a manner entails identifying the multiplicity of actors i

Date of Award	31 Dec 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Pamela Stapleton (Supervisor) & Anna Samsonova-Taddei (Supervisor)