The purpose of this discussion is to review the paper “Accounting Practitioners' Attitudes toward Accounting Harmonization: Adoption of IFRS for SMEs in Italy” by Alessandro Ghio and Roberto Verona. Ghio and Verona (2018; hereafter, GV) report a survey of 1,268 Italian Certified Accountants and ten interviews with presidents of local professional accounting associations. Findings show the co-existence of the competitive logics of professional, market, and cultural that significantly influence small practitioners' attitudes toward the new accounting standards. GV also find that attitudes toward the new standards vary based on different characteristics of practitioners, suggesting that small practitioners are not a homogenous group.
The context for the study by GV relates to the development of IFRS for SMEs. IFRS for SMEs were first issued in July 2009 (IASB 2009). The intention of these standards is to meet the needs of small and medium sized entities which are an...
