The Difference between Stock Prices before and after Implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards

Abstract

Following the trend of capital market globalization, many countries have begun to use unified accounting standards. The resulting, financial statements are consistent and can thus attract foreign investment, and reduce the costs of multinational companies with regard to preparing financial statements. After the implementation of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the earnings and book value of the shareholders’ equity are more relevant to stock prices, and this is also the case in Taiwan. Because the financial statements are different before and after incorporating IFRS, this has had a significant influence in the Taiwanese financial industry. This study analyzes and explains the impacts of the earnings and book value of equity on stock prices. We take a sample of financial firms in the years 2012 and 2013 for empirical research, and the results show that the earnings per share and book value of equity have a positive and significant impact on stock prices, with the earnings per share being most significant. The results also support the hypothesis proposed in this paper: There is a decline in the value relevance of earnings, but an increase in the value relevance of book value of shareholders’ equity, after implementation of IFRS. This implies the implementation of IFRS has valuable relevant information for capital market investments.