While a number of faciors likely contribute to IFRS adoption by countries, this study focuses on network effects. Accordingly, we consider explanations that potentially confound our inferences on network effects. First, we establish whether our results on network effects are robust to the inclusion of time-based controls since there are numerous possible time-based explanations for the increasing IFRS adoption over our sample period. We note that, even after including such time-based controls, the network effect can still be identified by our network variable because, both conceptually and empirically, network effects are cross-sectional and time-series in nature. We next discuss six at least partially panel-based alternative explanations. The first potential explanation focus on the role of the World Bank in encouraging its client countries to embrace IFRS. The World Bank evaluates the status of a country’s corporate governance institutions, including accounting institutions, in its periodic ROSC reports and then makes recommendations on how that country can progress toward more internationally consistent governance institutions, including accounting institutions, in its periodic ROSC reports and then makes recommendations on how that country can progress toward more internationally consistent governance practices, including through IFRS harmonization. An ROSC report may thus result in both IFRS adoption and changes in trade, which will be captured by our network effects variable. If so, an association between IFRS adoption and the network effects. To control for this possibility, we include in robustness tests an indicator variable …..to done wheher a World Bank ROSC report was issued for a given country I in year t-3 or before. Second, we test wherher IFRS adoption reflects a country’s broader economic giobalization, beyond increasing economic relations with IFRS adopters. That is, as a country’s economy becomes increasing economic relations with IFRS adopters. That is, as a country’s economy becomes increasingly reliant on trade during our sample period, the country may initiate associated policy responses such as IFRS adoption, even if such trade were with countries not adopting IFRS. To address this possibility, we include Trade……..as a control variable to reflect the ex ante share of international trade with non-IFRS adopters in a country’s GDP. Note that if the increasing reliance on trade in the economy comes from trade with. IFRS-adopters, then it constitutes a network effect and is captured by Network.