Because we conceptualize and measure network benefits ex ante, i.e., as a determinant rather than as a consequence of IFRS adoption, our evidence does not speak to whether these network benefits are realized. By the same token, evidence on the effect of IFRS adoption on trade and foreign investment (Marquez-Ramos 2008) is insufficient to conclude that countries perceived lower cost of trade as an important in their decision to adopt IFRS. Consequences of IFRS adoption are not uniform across firms located in different countries and are sometimes undesirable, which implies that perceived benefits may not always be realized and that some consequences of IFRS adoption are likely unintended. Hence, even when ex post trade consequences have been previously examined, our study of ex ante determinants is important for at least three reasons. First, our evidence adds context to findings form existing firm-level studies on IFRS adoption. While governments likely consider the expected firm-level consequences in their decisions to adopt IFRS, firms adopt the standards only after their government allows or requires them to do so. Second, the evidence on network effects suggests a country can adopt IFRS even if its domestically developed accounting standards are particularly well suited to its domestic institutions. Finally, a literature in economic has shown that when network effects contribute to the dominance of a standard, even superior innovations in the future may not be implemented. While our evidence cannot establish this will be the case with IFRS, the evidence is germane in the context of prior research on network effects.