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 included documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with key individuals in India, with substantial knowledge about the decision making with regards to convergence. Key empirical findings are as follows. Firstly, while in the early phases of decision-making, transnational influences, in the form of international financial institutions and standard setting agencies, were equally apparent in both sectors, in subsequent phases the transnational influences were greater and arguably more successful in the public than the private sector. Secondly, local resistance formed and was successful in delaying the project of IFRS convergence in the private sector. Local actors were successful in raising their concerns about, for example, fair value accounting and the impacts of IFRS accounting on taxation, and in the context of a turbulent political environment, their influence was powerful enough to cause delays. Thirdly, the empirics show the significance of foreign governments and inter-governmental regional networks as an important source of influence on the decision to delay IFRS convergence. Specifically, the study demonstrates how India’s position was also affected by the decision of the US, a major trading partner, to delay its convergence with IFRS, and by the informal links with countries such as Japan, another significant economic counterpart. This thesis has three important areas of contributions. Firstly, it makes a significant methodological contribution by studying convergence as a process rather than an event by tracing the dynamics preceding the actual implementation of international accounting standards. Conducting a study in such a manner entails identifying the multiplicity of actors involved in the convergence project, their concerns and opinions with regards to convergence, the means through which they voice these concerns, and the ultimate drivers of the decision-making behind convergence. Therefore, this study draws attention to the significance of understanding and fully accounting for the pre-implementation phase of convergence as such an understanding has a potential to provide a deeper insight into the primary sources of the difficulties with standards implementation observed in many countries. Secondly, this thesis contributes substantially to the existing standardisation literature. In most prior studies the discussion on accounting standardisation broadly revolves around the advantages and disadvantages of convergence, drivers of convergence and issues of compliance with international accounting standards. While this study finds the significant presence of transnational actors, a deeper analysis into the reasons for convergence delays in India was traced to a variety of legislative, political and economic concerns of stakeholders, especially local actors including potential users of these standards. Thirdly, this study contributes to the literature on global governance by highlighting the importance of not losing sight of the nation state as an important player in the transnational governance arena. Specifically, literature on global (accounting) regulation devotes a great deal of attention to the roles of organisations and agencies with transnational remits (such as global standard setters and donor agencies) while often downplaying the significant impacts of the more traditional cross-country links forged through economic relationships and resource dependencies. The aforementioned influences of India’s links with countries such as US and Japan on the decision-making process as well as India’s regional alliances with neighbouring Malaysia and China provide a vivid indication of the important roles of cross-governmental relationships in the global governance arena and also questions the position of transnational organizations as pervasive powers in such governance. The study’s findings clearly demonstrate that the pursuit of full IFRS convergence strongly favoured by the transnational forces was invariably challenged in the Indian context by the influences of powerful nation states advocating a more cautious approach.

Cette thèse étudie les efforts mis en oeuvre par le Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) et l'International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) afin de produire de manière conjointe un ensemble de normes comptables pour réguler les marchés dans le monde entier. Pour ce faire, elle examine comment un processus de changement comptable (institutionnel) – décrit comme un processus de convergence - a évolué au sein de l'espace transnational de normalisation comptable. Cette recherche étudie le rôle que les institutions et les politiques jouent dans le processus de convergence des FASB-IASB, ainsi que leur rôle dans les processus par lesquels les normalisateurs prennent une décision collective sur un standard très controversé. A partir de la littérature sur la normalisation comptable considérée comme le socle de base de cette thèse, je me sers d’un cadre théorique à la fois institutionnel et politique pour explorer systématiquement la convergence des normes comptables. J’effectue trois études empiriques. Chacune de ces études couvre les activités de normalisation ayant eu lieu entre 2002 et 2011 et utilise des études de cas s'appuyant sur plusieurs sources de données comprenant des documents d'archives, des observations indirectes et des entretiens avec des participants clés. Le premier article met l'accent sur la compréhension du phénomène de convergence des normes comptables en relation avec des tendances politiques et institutionnelles plus larges au moyen de divers mécanismes de diffusion de la théorie néo-institutionnelle. Ensuite, cette thèse souligne le rôle central des normalisateurs qui mobilisent des systèmes de sens pour faire converger les normes comptables. Le deuxième article se concentre sur les systèmes de sens concurrents auxquels se réfèrent les normalisateurs comptables, ainsi que les facteurs qui influencent leurs décisions collectives. Plus spécifiquement, il s’intéresse à l’ordre négocié (Strauss et al., 1963) qui prend forme sur la base de ces systèmes. Enfin, le troisième article étudie le processus par lequel les normalisateurs comptables convainquent les parties prenantes (et eux-mêmes) de la légitimité de leurs décisions par le biais des « économies de la grandeur » (Boltanski et Thévenot, 1991) et des mécanismes rhétoriques. Cette thèse contribue à développer par une étude multi-niveaux, nos connaissances sur les activités de convergence transnationale, en particulier celles qui visent à produire un ensemble commun de normes comptables, et comment ces normes évoluent en tenant compte du contexte, des acteurs et des institutions. / This dissertation explores the efforts of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to produce a common set of accounting standards accepted for worldwide market regulation. In doing so, it examines how a process of accounting (institutional) change - referred to as a convergence process - has evolved within the transnational accounting standard-setting space. This research investigates the role that institutions and politics play in the FASB-IASB convergence process, more broadly, as well as their role in the processes by which standard setters go about collective policy-making on one highly contested standard. With the accounting policy-making literature serving as a foundation tying together the works within this dissertation, I mobilize institutional and political perspectives to systematically explore the convergence of accounting standards through three empirical papers. Each of these studies focuses on standard-setting activities occurring between 2002 and 2011 and utilizes case study methods drawing on multiple data sources including archival documents, indirect observation and interviews with key informants. The first paper focuses on understanding the phenomenon of accounting convergence and its relationship to broader political and institutional trends through a variety of diffusionist mechanisms from neo-institutional theory. This dissertation then turns to the standard-setters themselves as focal actors and links these actors to the meaning systems they employ in the shaping of accounting convergence. The second paper focuses on competing meaning systems that standard setters adhere to and the factors that affect collective policy decisions. More specifically, it is interested in the negotiated order (Strauss et al. 1963) which takes shape on the basis of these factors. Finally, the third paper studies the process by which accounting standard setters persuade their public audience (and themselves) of the merits of their policy decisions by mobilizing orders of worth (Boltanski & Thévenot, ([1991], 2006) in their discourse. The primary contribution of this dissertation is to shed light, at multiple levels of analysis, on how transnational convergence activities, in particular those aimed at producing a common set of accounting standards, evolve in consideration of actors, institutions, and context.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A convergÃncia do padrÃo contÃbil brasileiro ao padrÃo contÃbil internacional deu-se a partir do ano de 2007. Esta convergÃncia ocorreu em dois momentos, a primeira fase em 2008 e a segunda fase em 2010. Portanto, conjectura-se que a representaÃÃo da situaÃÃo econÃmico-financeira das firmas brasileiras pode ter se alterado. Ou seja, a representaÃÃo contÃbil dos fatos e fenÃmenos pode ter mudado e isto pode ter afetado o processo decisÃrio de gestores, analistas e outros usuÃrios da informaÃÃo contÃbil. Tais decisÃes sÃo baseadas em indicadores econÃmico-financeiros utilizados por analistas de mercado, investidores e demais usuÃrios da informaÃÃo contÃbil. Portanto, o objetivo desta pesquisa à investigar se hà alteraÃÃo significante nos indicadores econÃmico-financeiros, calculados a partir de informaÃÃes contÃbeis, devido a alteraÃÃo do padrÃo contÃbil brasileiro. Foram elencados 11 indicadores econÃmico-financeiros segregados em quatro grupos (Liquidez, Endividamento, Rentabilidade e Lucratividade, e Valor) que pudessem retratar as mudanÃas oriundas da mudanÃa de padrÃo contÃbil. Tal comparaÃÃo à realizada pela projeÃÃo da sÃrie temporal dos indicadores apurados em padrÃo contÃbil brasileiro vigente atà 2007 para o perÃodo de 2008 atà 2012 confrontando-os com aqueles efetivamente apurados de 2008 a 2012, jà oriundos do novo padrÃo contÃbil. Ademais, buscou-se analisar os resultados a nÃvel individual (firma a firma), pelo conjunto das empresas amostradas e a nÃvel setorial. Ademais, controlaram-se, pela utilizaÃÃo de quatro variÃveis macroeconÃmicas, alteraÃÃes na situaÃÃo econÃmico-financeira das empresas efetivamente oriundas da atividade da economia. Utilizou-se mÃtodo de estimaÃÃo por sÃrie temporal que abrangeu o uso de modelo SARIMAX e do teste de previsÃo de quebra estrutural de Chow (1960). Teve-se como principal achado a identificaÃÃo de quebra estrutural da representaÃÃo do indicador de Endividamento das empresas brasileiras, afetado pela mudanÃa de tratamento do leasing conforme versa o CPC 06. Ademais, nÃo se localizou nos demais indicadores pesquisados quebra estrutural de comportamento devido ao novo padrÃo contÃbil. A anÃlise por setor mostrou que apenas se afetaram aqueles intensivos em operaÃÃes de leasing quanto ao Ãndice de endividamento / It is worth noting that convergence of Brazilian accounting standard to international accounting standard (IFRS) started in 2007. This convergence occurred in two stages, the first phase in 2008 and the second in 2010. Therefore, it is conjectured that the economic and financial representation of the Brazilian firms may have changed. In other words, the change in the financial representation of firms may entail a change in the managerial process of managers, analysts and other interested users in accounting information. These financial ratios are commonly examined by analysts, investors and other users of accounting information. As a result, the aim of this research is to investigate whether there are significant changes in economic and financial ratios calculated from financial statements due to changes in accounting standards. Eleven economic and financial ratios, segregated into four groups (Liquidity, Debt, Profitability and Value), were chosen in order to show the changes arising from the change in the accounting standard. However, such comparison is examined using data from Brazilian accounting standard in force until 2007 to forecast data from 2008 to 2012. Then, this projection is compared with the accounted numbers by the new accounting standard from 2008 to 2012. Furthermore, this study seeks to analyze the results at an individual level (firm by firm), at a general level (for the set of firms), and at an industry activity level. In the methodology, it were used the time series model (SARIMAX) and the structural break forecast test of Chow (1960). Moreover, four macroeconomic variables were considered in order to control effects from the economy. The main results of this study show a structural break in the representation of Debt ratio of Brazilian companies which were affected by the change in treatment of leasing as stated in CPC 06. Moreover, this study did not found any other structural break due to the new accounting standard in any other representation of financial-economic ratios. Analysis by sector showed evidence that only those sectors affected by intensive leasing operations presented a structural break.