Title: Tax management and IFRS financial reporting synergies

Authors: Leonidas Doukakis; Georgia Siougle; Eleni Vrentzou

Addresses: Department of Accounting and Control, HEC Lausanne, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. ' Department of Accounting and Finance, Athens University of Economics and Business, Patission 76 Str., 104-34, Athens, Greece. ' Ministry of Economy and Finance, Department of Accounting and Finance, Athens University of Economics and Business, 104-34 Athens, Greece

Abstract: This paper investigates whether taxes presented according to the IFRS financial statements convey value relevant information. We ask the following questions: do taxes derived from published IFRS financial statements convey information on tax planning policies and thus be used to predict future taxation? Are the IFRS deferred taxation treatments used as vehicles for achieving management's planning strategies? Is IFRS tax information value relevant and fully appreciated by stock market participants? The empirical evidence suggests that past income taxes provide information regarding firms' future tax position. Firms use deferred taxation strategies in order to reduce future tax expenses and meet their tax planning policies. Tax strategies in the framework of IFRS adoption provide value relevant information to stock market participants. Misinterpretation in assessing the tax effects of accounting choices can lead to wrong investment decisions which reveal the necessity for increased regulation on the disclosure of the tax information.

Keywords: tax planning; tax management; International Accounting Standard 12; IAS 12; International Financial Reporting Standards; IFRS; income taxes; deferred tax assets; deferred tax liabilities; financial statements; value relevant information.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAAPE.2012.047809

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, 2012 Vol.8 No.3, pp.223 - 238

Received: 28 Feb 2011
Accepted: 19 Dec 2011

Published online: 30 Jul 2014 *

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