The continued survival of international differences under IFRS

The claimed starting point for much recent literature is that International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been very widely adopted. That is somewhere between an error and a misleading simplification. This paper begins by providing an antidote by analysing the degree to which IFRS have not been adopted in the jurisdictions containing the world's largest 16 stock markets. This might help researchers with their institutional settings. The paper then examines several issues which can lead to international differences in IFRS practice, starting with language and enforcement, but focusing mainly on policy options. Previously published lists of these are up-dated, the extensive recent literature on IFRS policy choice and policy change is synthesised, and new data are provided. Finally, researchers are offered some lessons from the past and some directions for the future.