The International Financial Reporting Standard 15 (IFRS 15) - Revenue from Contracts with Customers, announced in May 2014 by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), has widely changed the way how companies recognise, measure and disclose revenues. This article investigates the question of whether the objectives to eliminate inconsistencies, improve comparability and increase revenue levels were achieved in practice.
The aim is to synthesize previous research on the various effects of the IFRS 15 implementation, specifically the accounting and information effects, and provide empirical evidence for the impact on financial statements. As available literature has identified the effects for the Retail sector only superficially without any quantification, this article aims to bridge current knowledge gaps by focusing on Retail companies.
To carry out this research, the author has selected four multinational Retail companies to review qualitative and quantitative information on the IFRS 15 implementation from their annual reports to determine possible accounting and information effects.
Results show that IFRS 15 had no significant but slightly positive impact on the financial figures of the selected companies, leading to the conclusion that the persued goal to improve revenue levels turned effective in the Retail sector.
Table of Contents
Abstract
Introduction
Literature Review
Purpose of IFRS 15 and changes versus previous standards
Accounting effects of IFRS 15
Information effects of IFRS 15
Capital Market effects and Real effects of IFRS 15
Limitations and knowledge gaps
Methodology
Sample
Data Collection Methods
Variables
Analysis
Impact on Retained Earnings
Impact on Revenue
Evaluation of Findings
Conclusion
Appendix
Abbreviations
References