Accounting, Culture, And Emerging Economies: IFRS In The BRIC Countries

Abstract

The culturally derived accounting orientations of four major emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India and China, the BRIC countries, are examined based on the Geert Hofstede work on cultural dimensions (Hofstede, 1980) and the hypothetical derivation of related accounting values by S. J. Gray. (Gray, 1988)  Results on Hofstede’s four original cultural dimensions are analyzed and compared.  An analysis of results for Gray’s derived accounting values is presented for these countries.  An IFRS favorable profile based on Gray’s accounting value dimensions is developed and BRIC and G7 results on these dimensions are compared. Strategies to adjust for country cultural profiles at variance with the IFRS profile are proposed.