Corporate financial reporting and foreign investments: the case of Kuwait

This study is concerned with the corporate financial reporting and foreign investments in Kuwait, which has become a multicultural country since the first exportation of oil in 1946 and which boomed and radically changed its economy. This radical change in its economy brought up the need for modern accounting, including corporate financial reporting. However, after an unsuccessful attempt to produce its own national accounting standards, Kuwait has recently adopted the International Accounting Standards as its national accounting standards. The study argues that the current practices of corporate financial reporting and foreign investments in Kuwait are shaped by cultural factors and attempts to interpret these practices by applying the 'cultural-importation' and 'cultural-power' concepts through the use of the qualitative case study method of research. It examines whether or not 'multiculturalisation' has affected the developments of current practices of corporate financial reporting and foreign investments and, if so, how and why 'multiculturalism' has affected these practices. The overall conclusion of the study is that the current practices of corporate financial reporting and foreign investments are culturally shaped with some deficiencies that are proved to be due to multiculturalism.