Habtamu, Berhanu (PhD)Fekadu, Mersha2018-11-282023-11-192018-11-282023-11-192018-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/14602A Thesis submitted to the Graduate Programmes of Addis Ababa University in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Executive Master in Business AdministrationThe study aims to assess the employees’ levels of awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practice of IFRS in private banks of Ethiopia. To achieve this, mixed method research design was employed. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 232 randomly selected samples of accountants and auditors of 16 private banks using structured questionnaire, and by conducting semi-structured interviews with five key informants through interview guide, respectively. The findings of the study also revealed that the employees lacked depth of awareness of detailed standards applicable to private banks based on the available data for reporting purpose; 127 (55%) of the sampled employees expressed that they were knowledgeable about different aspects of IFRS such as the provision of IFRS with greater transparency in the financial reporting of the Ethiopian private banks, its contribution to the improvement of regulatory oversight and enforcement, the important role(s) of accounting professional association(s) in the proper implementation of the adoption of IFRS, and the complex of its adoption as compared with local GAAP and US GAAP in the banks. In addition, the majority of the respondents showed positive attitude towards IFRS and most of their dimensions; 60.1% responded that all those stated required ‘soft inputs’ (like the preparation of IFRS conversion plan; gaps identified, analyzed the impact of accounting reporting and reconciliation processes, the IFRS implementation guidelines prepared, disclosure skeleton prepared, new changes made, and the alignment approach for maintaining process controls made in all of the banks) were made. However, there were multi-faceted challenges which had emanated from different sources and stakeholders. Finally, the study concludes that the employees in the private banks have awareness and knowledge, show certain degree of positive attitude, and limited scope of practical implementation of IFRS adoption. Generally, these may add to knowledge base on IFRS which, in turn, has practical implications for the required professions and future areas of research.en-USAttitudeEthiopiaKnowledgeIFRSThesis