We examine the effect of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) on the type of
performance measures firms use to evaluate and reward their managers. We show that post-IFRS
firms decrease the weight of Earnings-per-Share (EPS)-based performance measures in CEO pay
contracts. We argue that IFRS add “noise” to accounting numbers which, based on optimal
contracting theory, makes reported earnings less useful for evaluating managerial performance. Our
findings suggest that while under IFRS accounting earnings could be more informative for valuation
purposes, this might be achieved at the expense of other purposes that accounting serves, i.e.,
stewardship/performance contracting.
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