Book-Tax Conformity: The Review of Recent Research and Its Implication for the IFRS Adoption in Europe

eJournal of Tax Research, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 96-118, 2016

20 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2016

See all articles by David Anthony Procházka

David Anthony Procházka

University of Economics, Prague

Jan Molín

University of Economics, Prague

Date Written: July 1, 2016

Abstract

As the goal of corporate taxation contradicts substantially the accounting principles of true and fair view, distinct measures of income are used in corporate and tax accounting. This dichotomy may facilitate an opportunistic behaviour of executives to manage earnings upwards in financial reporting and taxable profits downwards simultaneously. Aligning both measures may restrict the misbehaviour of management, however at cost of losing informativeness of accounting information. The deliberations on the level of book-tax conformity are complicated by international capital mobility, which facilitate the crossborder profit shifting. Finally, the worldwide adoption of IFRS challenges the governments to decide, whether to allow IFRS to be a tax base for corporate taxation. The growing number of opportunities to relocate profits to more favourable jurisdiction constitutes risks, but also opportunities, for governments struggling to retain control over taxation. The decision may influence both the regulatory frameworks and the business practices of companies. The paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of low/high book-tax conformity. Our analysis rests on the review of respective literature and it is complemented by the classification of real corporate and tax accounting systems of the EU countries after the IFRS adoption. The classification can be employed in research studies, when the control for different aspect of “de jure book-tax conformity” is needed.

Keywords: Book-Tax Conformity, IFRS Adoption, Accounting Choices, Tax Avoidance, Reporting Incentives

JEL Classification: M41, H25

Suggested Citation

Prochazka, David Anthony and Molín, Jan, Book-Tax Conformity: The Review of Recent Research and Its Implication for the IFRS Adoption in Europe (July 1, 2016). eJournal of Tax Research, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 96-118, 2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2835711

David Anthony Prochazka (Contact Author)

University of Economics, Prague ( email )

Nam. W. Churchilla 4
Prague 3, 130 67
Czech Republic

HOME PAGE: http://webhosting.vse.cz/prochazd/

Jan Molín

University of Economics, Prague ( email )

nam. W.Churchilla 4
Prague 3, 130 67
Czech Republic

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
255
Abstract Views
1,763
Rank
218,188
PlumX Metrics