Firm Characteristics of Swiss Companies that Utilize International Accounting Standards

This study examines firm specific characteristics of Swiss companies that have voluntarily elected to prepare financial reports using International Accounting Standards (IASs). An identification of differences between companies that select to adopt IASs and those that do not should aid in determining what the perceived benefits might be. The variables tested were foreign sales activity, foreign stock exchange listings, debt/equity ratio, market value, size and audit firm. The study used MANOVA and stepwise discriminant analysis to determine if differences existed between the group of 22 Swiss companies that adopted IASs and a group of 22 Swiss companies that use local standards, based on six independent variables. The foreign activity variables, percent of foreign exchange listings and percent of foreign sales were found to be statistically significant. Thus, the perceived benefits might be that international standards facilitate reporting to multinational stakeholders, and are not necessary for companies that are only required to report to domestic users. This study is an initial examination of Swiss companies that use IASs. Numerous questions, such as how does the market value companies ' that utilize IASs, remain to be asked and investigated.