**1. Introduction**

The global wind of economic integration is at the doorstep of the accounting profession with intense pressure on nations and states to apply unified accounting standards. This effort could be seen as a century reform to the profession. The reform agenda was perceived as the way forward towards harmonising the accounting practice within the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) Generally Accepted Accounting Principles with that of the rest of the world (The International Financial Reporting Standards), which for a long time experts had been advocating on the belief that financial accounting practises should be harmonised for ease of comparison (Dicko and Fortin 2014; Fossung 2016; Mayegle 2014; OHADA Uniform Acts 2016; AICPA 2019).

The effects of globalisation have posed the need for comparable, consistent and quality financial statements. The general expectations and advantages of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are widely known, but due to the scarcity in the various economic resources, there is always a primary issue of implementation of the law, and then there is the question of whether the country would also benefit from the proclaimed advantages of the IFRS while considering the cost involved. It is therefore important to examine the perception of accounting practitioners on the transition to the revised OHADA Uniform Acts on Accounting and Financial Reporting, and particularly of the transition of both listed companies and group companies to IFRS as inscribed in the revised OHADA Uniform Acts. Hence, the study sets out to investigate the perceptions of Accountants in Cameroon on the transition to the International Financial Reporting Standards, since the clients who fall within this group were required to implement IFRS as of January 2019 (OHADA Uniform Acts 2016; AICPA 2019).

Therefore, the main research question is: what is the perception of Cameroon accounting practitioners on the transition to the Revised OHADA Act on Accounting and Financial Reporting? The following specific research questions will be answered:


The recent transition to IFRS has been welcomed by many, while others still have lukewarm feelings on the decision to transit to the IFRS. As such, this study is aimed at investigating the perception of Cameroon accounting practitioners on the transition to the International Financial Reporting Standards. The specific objectives of the study are: (1) to investigate the extent to which the transition to IFRS would improve the transparency and comparability of financial statements; (2) to understand the extent to which the International Financial Reporting Standards can be completely implemented in Cameroon; (3) to assess the costs and benefits involved in transitioning from the previous (OHADA) Accounting System to IFRS.

Studies like Barth et al. (2012) analysed the difference between IFRS and US GAAP-based accounting. Exploring information from US companies with IFRS-based accounting and US-based accounting from 1995 and 2006 showed that IFRS firms' accounting amounts had greater comparability with those of US firms when IFRS firms applied IFRS than when they applied non-domestic standards. They add that there was greater comparability for firms that adopted IFRS mandatory, common law firms and firms in countries with high enforcement. Furthermore, Armstrong et al. (2010) reported 16 events associated with the IFRS as a result of the European stock market reactions. Their study showed that there existed an incremental positive reaction for European firms with higher pre-adoption information quality and lower pre-adoption information asymmetry. Meanwhile, the study of Jeanjean and Stolowy (2008) revealed that the European Commission, the International Accounting Standard Board and the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) should put more effort to promote institutional factors and incentives rather than harmonising accounting standards.
