Abstract The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Conceptual Framework emphasizes understandability, i.e. that users have a reasonable degree of relevant knowledge and an ability to study financial information diligently. This article reports results from an empirical study of Swedish financial analysts’ knowledge of IFRS Standards in an area of high complexity (acquisitions) and their use of such information for company valuation purposes. The study comprises financial analysts with experience analyzing acquisitions. Yet we find that the median analyst only knew the standards “to some extent,” which we interpret as a poorer knowledge level compared to the expected IFRS understandability level. We further find that IFRS knowledge varied considerably across the analysts. Higher IFRS knowledge was not associated with using more sophisticated valuation methods, even though such methods require inputs involving accounting complexities. Our results provide some support for higher IFRS knowledge being associated with higher use of acquisition-related IFRS information. This suggests that analysts’ incentives to invest in accounting knowledge may be driven by factors other than those related to fundamental analysis. Our empirical study considers various aspects of the analyst decision context and the findings are discussed in relation to this context and the research literature.

中文翻译：

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分析师对收购的评估：瑞典关于 IFRS 知识和会计信息用于估值目的的调查证据

摘要 国际财务报告准则（IFRS）概念框架强调可理解性，即使用者具有合理程度的相关知识和勤勉研究财务信息的能力。本文报告了瑞典金融分析师在高度复杂的领域（收购）中对 IFRS 标准的了解以及他们将此类信息用于公司估值目的的实证研究结果。该研究由具有分析收购经验的金融分析师组成。然而，我们发现中位数分析师只“在某种程度上”了解标准，我们将其解释为与预期的 IFRS 可理解性水平相比知识水平较差。我们进一步发现，分析师之间的 IFRS 知识差异很大。更高的 IFRS 知识与使用更复杂的估值方法无关，即使这些方法需要涉及会计复杂性的输入。我们的结果为更高的 IFRS 知识与更多地使用与收购相关的 IFRS 信息提供了一些支持。这表明分析师投资于会计知识的动机可能是由与基本分析相关的因素以外的因素驱动的。我们的实证研究考虑了分析师决策背景的各个方面，并在此背景下和研究文献中讨论了调查结果。这表明分析师投资于会计知识的动机可能是由与基本分析相关的因素以外的因素驱动的。我们的实证研究考虑了分析师决策背景的各个方面，并在此背景下和研究文献中讨论了调查结果。这表明分析师投资于会计知识的动机可能是由与基本分析相关的因素以外的因素驱动的。我们的实证研究考虑了分析师决策背景的各个方面，并在此背景下和研究文献中讨论了调查结果。