Eastern and Western European firms public and private information quality: The comparative impact of degree of implementation of IFRS ☆ Arsen Djatej a , Grace Gao b , Robert H.S. Sarikas c , David L. Senteney c, ⁎ a Hasan School of Accountancy, College of Business Administration, Colorado State University Pueblo, Pueblo, CO 81001, United States b Integrated Marketing Communication, Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, United States c School of Accountancy, College of Business, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, United States article info abstract Article history: Received 8 July 2009 Received in revised form 9 February 2011 Accepted 9 February 2011 Available online 17 February 2011 We investigate the quality of public and private information environments between Western European or Eastern European firms. We find that the quality of private information is higher for Eastern European than for Western European firms and the quality of public information is higher for Western European than for Eastern European firms. Further, the degree of implementation of IFRS increases the quality of public information and decreases the quality of private information for both Eastern European and Western European countries with decreasing marginal benefits. Nonetheless we find IFRS comparatively more beneficial for firms from Eastern European countries than for firms from Western European countries. Published by Elsevier B.V. Keywords: Public and private information quality Eastern and Western Europe Securities analysts IFRS implementation Institutional factors 1. Introduction The extant accounting research literature supplies substantial evidence indicating that the quality of financial reporting impacts transnational capital movements (Young and Guenther, 2002), capital allocation efficiency (Bushman et al., 2006; Fang Junxiong, 2007) and capital costs (Leuz and Verrecchia (2000)) by reducing existing information asymmetry (Frankel and Li (2004)) as a result of disclosing relevant timely information to present and potential investors and creditors. However, differences in accounting practices observed around the world arise as a result of the interaction of a number of socio- Emerging Markets Review 12 (2011) 111–129 ☆ The authors wish to acknowledge and thank Investment Brokers Estimate Service (IBES) Thomson-Primcark for providing the country-specific analyst earnings forecast data as part of its support for a broad range of earnings forecast research. ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: + 1 740 593 2129. E-mail address: Senteney@Ohio.edu (D.L. Senteney) 1566-0141/$ – see front matter. Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.ememar.2011.02.001 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Emerging Markets Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/emr