Use of International Accounting Standards and source of finance: the case of greek companies listed in the Athens Stock Exchange

Abstract

This paper provides evidence of use of IAS’s on companies’ sources of finance. The methodology based on the proposed model by Nobes (1998) in which claims that international companies in order to invest globally, especially in weak-equity markets are more likely to change their type of accounting system. Greek tax system law characterized as “tax driven system” and is substantially influenced by law and also depends on banks and governments reinforcement. The sample of this paper constituted by 46 Greek listed companies examined for a period 2004-2005. The results support Nobes model as it has been found that companies with more outsider finance were more likely to use international standards. After the compulsory adoption of IAS/IFRS, most of the Greek companies have increased not only their proportion of foreign sales, and the proportion of shares hold of public but, also, the proportion of public debt.