Why choosing IFRS? Benefits of voluntary adoption by European private companies

In 2005, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been legally adopted by listed firms to facilitate the harmonization of accounting practices. However, IFRS remain an option for non-listed in some countries. We investigate whether European privately held can raise more debt when they voluntarily report their consolidated financial information according rather than local rules. Using fixed effects regressions on 8391 22 Union (EU) countries from 2005–2018, we document that adoption leads private issue firms. This could be particularly useful opaque or located common law Our results contribute debate policy