Discussion of "Will Harmonizing Accounting Standards Really Harmonize Accounting? Evidence from Non-U.S. Firms Adopting U.S. GAAP"

Bradshaw and Miller ( 2007) study a sample of non-U.S. firms that voluntarily adopted U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) during the period from 1980 to 2001. They document that the voluntary US. GAAP adopters move significantly closer to U.S. firms in terms of compliance with U.S. GAAP and various accounting earnings properties, although they have not fully converged with US. firms. This paper is an interesting and comprehensive study of voluntary U.S. GAAP adopters. The paper's research setting, however, limits its ability to address the question raised in its title.