Cultural and socio-economic restrictions for the adoption of the IESBA code of ethics for professional accountants in the European countries

Abstract

This paper examines the adoption of the Code of Ethics of the International Ethics Standard Board of Accountants (IESBA) by European accounting organizations. Further, it analyses the influence of Hofstede’s countries’ cultural dimensions and accounting organizations’ seniority on the adoption of the IESBA Code of Ethics. The results suggest that accounting bodies’ ethical guidelines are increasingly aligned to the IESBA Code. However, this study highlights that cultural differences have great influence on ethical regulation. These results provide insights into the factors that affect the harmonization of ethical standards, which is a necessary step towards the internationalization of the accounting profession.