Ifrs and Ipsas Convergence in India - Transnational Perspectives

In common with other countries India has been drawn into a global trend of standardising national accounting practices with international norms to enhance its ability to attract inward foreign investment and gain increased access to global capital markets. In 2004, India committed itself to achieving convergence with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in the public sector and in 2007 to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the private sector. Both sectors have taken the route to convergence with clear cut roadmaps being designed by the national accounting standard setters and the state. However, there has been a striking contrast in the decision-making processes and preparations for convergence in the two sectors. While the public sector made relatively good progress in terms of following the scheduled roadmap, the first roadmap issued for the private sector was scrapped, new deadlines were set and the roadmap was replaced in 2013 due to severe delays in the process which as of August 2016 have not yet been fully resolved. This cross-sector comparison is interesting because the contrasting decision-making scenarios in India exist despite the state being the central decision-maker in both sectors. Hence, while much existing literature on standardisation takes the decision to converge as a given and focuses on the implementation of IFRS or IPSAS, the purpose of this thesis is to examine the processes that led to the convergence decisions. Using a transnational governance theoretical lens, this thesis investigates the chaotic routes through which the idea of convergence travels before being finalised as an implementation decision, in both the public and private sectors in India. The research questions focus on unravelling the development of the convergence decision-making process in India, tracing the networks of national and transnational actors driving the process, analysing the two-way interactive dynamics between actors that shaped the process and examining the role of the state as the central decision-maker in the public and private sectors. The research methods utilised included documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with key individuals in India, with substantial knowledge about the decisio n making with regards to convergence. The data analysis was conducted in two Duri g n first the empirical phase evidence was chronologically classified to make sense of the time-sequence of events and communications that constituted the decision-making process. The information gathered from interviews was validated by reference to documentary evidence. Analysis of empirical evidence helped identify the key stages in the decision-making process in both private and public sectors together with actors that played major roles in phases.