Mark H. Lang, Mark G. Maffett and Edward L. Owens, Earnings Comovement and
Accounting Comparability: the Effects of Mandatory IFRS Adoption, look at ‘changes in crosscountry
financial statement comparability around mandatory IFRS adoption’. Accounting
comparability is measured using the idea that ‘given a similar set of economic transactions
(as reflected in stock returns), firm j should produce similar earnings to firm i ’. That is,
where accounting is comparable, firms with similar stock market returns should have similar
accounting returns (measured by taking earnings as a return on the market value of equity).