Abstract:
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) becomes internationally accepted
standard which is adopted and implemented in many jurisdictions to harmonize financial
reporting throughout the globe. As Ethiopia is also one of those countries which accept this
standard and starts adopting it. Therefore, this study aims to assess the Challenges of IFRS
implementation in Ethiopia: A Case study of selected agricultural sectors under Horizon
Plantation located in South West part of Ethiopia. The study employed mixed research
approach to achieve the research objectives and to achieve this objective, both primary and
secondary data were collected from 74 finance, internal audit, marketing staff and managers of
all selected agricultural Sectors under Horizon Plantation who were selected purposively
based on their role and involvement in the implementation process. Primary data were
collected through questionnaire and interview whereas secondary data were collected through
documentary evidence and the questionnaire data was analyzed by using different descriptive
statistical tools such as SPSS version 20 and data from interview and documentary evidence
were interpreted qualitatively. Finally, the result of the study revealed that lack of attention
and management understanding about IFRS, Lack of qualified people to provide training in
profession or workplace, lack of supports from accountancy professional bodies, weak
enforcements of regulatory body, and high cost of implementation and weak management
support are the major challenges of IFRS implementation by these selected agricultural sectors
under Horizon Plantation. Therefore, the Horizon Plantations, regulatory organs and
consultants are recommended to improve management involvement, provide workplace
trainings, to implement by customizing the standard, to improve cost issues of the standard,
and to improve the cooperation of the organs involving in the implementation.
