Under interest group and related capture theories of regulation, the regulator responds to the
demand of specific groups. For instance, many countries in Africa have adopted full IFRS for both
public and private firms. Different parties argue, however, that full IFRS is too complicated and
burdensome for non-publicly accountable entities, and thus, the benefits for these firms are offset
by high transitional and implementation costs. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
(ACCA), headquartered in London, states: ‘Elsewhere, particularly countries which currently
rely on IFRS as the basis of reporting by all companies of whatever size, we expect that
local jurisdictions are likely to make use of the standard [IFRS for SMEs]’ (ACCA 2007). We
find significant evidence for this prediction.