In this article, we investigate whether the claimed higher corporate boards’ effectiveness in constraining earnings management around the time of the IFRS introduction is permanent or short-lived and, as such, it is ‘‘just an illusion.’’ Drawing upon the ABV of the firm (Ocasio, 1997), we suggest that the transition process to IFRS represents a factor which might have affected INDs’ and ACs members’ allocation of attention to the corporate financial accounting process, thus temporarily increasing their effectiveness in monitoring earnings management. Our results are generally consistent with our predictions.