The European Union (EU) introduced a common set of accounting standards in 2005,
with the objective of enhancing financial reporting quality and comparability across countries.
This shift was intended for all public (i.e., listed) companies in Europe preparing consolidated financial statements, but the regulation also gave each Member State the
opportunity to decide whether to oblige/allow other kind of companies, for example nonlisted
ones, to use the same set of standards for financial reporting purposes. In most recent
years, International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and EU Commission have particularly
focused their attention on the use of international accounting standards by private entities
(Nobes, 2009). Indeed, the latter represent the majority of EU economy and account
for more than 75% of European GDP (The European Confederation of Directors
Associations [Ecoda], 2010).