Zusammenfassung:
Although one of the main purposes of International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is to improve comparability of financial statements by eliminating different accounting treatments applied by companies, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) still permit choices in accounting treatment of similar transactions and events. This paper examines the accounting choices made by Turkish listed companies in cases where IFRSs permit a choice between alternative accounting policies. The paper highlights 11 such accounting policy choices and presents the descriptive empirical results on which accounting policies were in fact chosen by a sample of 235 Turkish listed companies after the adoption of IFRSs. The results show that companies choose different accounting policies concerning measurement model for plant, property and equipment and investment property which impair the comparability of financial information between companies. Furthermore, lack of disclosures relating to chosen accounting policies is also identified in some cases.