Värderelevansen av IFRS 15 –Intäkter från avtal med kunder –En eventstudie om den svenska aktiemarknadens reaktion på den nya intäktstandarden

Abstract

This study investigates how the Swedish stock market reacts to adjustments in accounting for revenues following the new revenue standard, IFRS 15. Due to prior financial scandals regarding revenues, criticism and discussions of the earlier revenue standard, as well as companies changing their way of doing business, a need for a new regulation was developed. FASB and IASB started the project with IFRS 15 in 2002 and it was released in 2014. The purpose of IFRS 15 was to develop a new revenue standard that could be used in all industries and capital markets, to create better transparency and thus better comparability among companies. Another aim was to create a better guidance on how to account for revenues. Companies need to apply the new standard in 2018. However, companies who get quantitative effects due to the standard, need to report these in the last quarterly report of 2017. With that background, the purpose of this study is to investigate how the Swedish stock market reacts to the new information of accounting according to IFRS 15, to tell if the adjustments following the new standard are perceived as value relevant or not. In addition to the main purpose, this study also assesses if there is a prominent market reaction within Telecommunications and IT, an industry where companies are perceived to be more affected by IFRS 15 than other industries. In order to fulfill the purpose, an event study was performed. Overall, we do not find any evidence supporting that investors react in the predicted direction. Therefore, the adjustments in accounting for revenues due to the new standard cannot be concluded as value relevant for the Swedish stock market. Moreover, there are no significant results showing that there is a prominent abnormal return within the Telecommunications and IT industry.