The adoption of IASs in many countries requires standard setters to understand the different regulatory and commercial environments in various countries. Barth, Landsman and Lang (2008) examine 21 countries (excluding Thailand) that have been required to adopt accounting measurements using IASs to provide shareholders with investment information. However, previous studies found significant differences in levels of compliance. For example, the adoption of IASs in Bangladesh has a very low compliance level, the major factor being the institutional legitimisation pressure from the Bangladeshi government and professional accounting bodies (Mir & Rahaman 2005). In contrast, due to their high compliance level, the impact of accounting reform on Japanese companies has been significant, with many companies improving returns on assets and value of their stock market shares (Mizuno 2004).