Barriers to the Implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards in Iranian Banking Industry

After the spread of financial reporting according to international standards in the world, in 2016, the Auditing Organization as the custodian of accounting and auditing standards in Iran adopted it. However, financial statements of corporates are still prepared in accordance with national accounting standards. This seems to indicate that the requirement has not been effective without regard to barriers and infrastructure, which itself emphasizes the need for the present study. In this study, based on a survey conducted among four groups of respondents including banks, bank auditors, regulators and academic experts and researchers, an attempt has been made to identify barriers to the implementation of international financial reporting standards at the level of banks in the country. Based on systematic review, a questionnaire consisting of 35 items was designed and 119 questionnaires were sent to the target population. The received answers were analyzed using fuzzy logic. Findings show that the main obstacles include Iran's economic characteristics, structural problems and business model of banks, existing information infrastructure and information technology, inadequacy of some laws and regulations and insufficient supervisory capacity, and their removal requires major reforms at the macro level, banks and regulatory bodies.