Compliance with International Accounting Standards in a national context: some empirical evidence from the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges

The contribution of this paper is the provide evidence from a sample of 281 companies about Egyptian convergence to international accounting. We construct indices to measure convergence and the impacts of education, tax and three company characteristics on compliance. Compliance, which is low, is associated with the volume of trading in company shares, but not with industry sector or legal status. The findings suggest weak enforcement, the need for education of accountants and the removal of adverse tax implications for companies if increased convergence is to be achieved.