Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which Small and
Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Cape Coast Metropolis comply with
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs). The study further looked
at firm attributes (size, profitability, audit type, internationality, type of SME,
and leverage) that relate and also influence the level of SMEs’ compliance
with IFRSs. The descriptive design was adopted for this study. The study
sampled 89 SMEs within the metropolis, however, data were collected from
67 medium scale enterprises. A self-constructed compliance index (CINDEX)
checklist and an interview guide were the instruments used. Both descriptive
and inferential statistics were used in analysing the data. The findings of the
study revealed that medium scale enterprises in the metropolis average level of
compliance of IFRSs is 77.9%. Also, enterprise’s attributes such as types,
profitability, and audit type are able to influence 70.6% of the variance in the
level of enterprise’s compliance with IFRSs disclosure requirements. The
study recommended that the National Board for Small Scale Industries
(NBSSI) and the owners/managers of the various SMEs in the metropolis
should liaise with Institute of chartered Accountant Ghana (ICAG) to organise
regular training programmes, for accountants within the sector, intended to
provide practical guide for compliance with the International Accounting
Standard Board (IASB) standards since the IFRSs receive continuous
amendment.
