Switching back from IFRS local GAAP ::does it impact target price accuracy and analyst optimism?

Prior research shows that mandatory IFRS adoption provided some benefits for financial analysts. We extend this literature by investigating whether switching back from IFRS to local GAAP reduces these benefits. More precisely, we analyze the impact of such a switch on target price errors in Switzerland, where several firms have decided to abandon IFRS and use Swiss GAAP. Our cross-sectional analysis shows that analysts’ errors are significantly lower for firms applying IFRS. The results from our staggered difference-in-differences suggest a significant increase in the absolute target price errors after a switch from IFRS to Swiss GAAP. Thus, we conclude that target price accuracy decreases when opacity increases. However, analysts are usually more optimistic about firms using IFRS, and analyst optimism significantly decreases after a switch from IFRS to Swiss GAAP. This latter finding suggests that analysts become more prudent when opacity increases. Overall, we conclude that switching back from IFRS to local GAAP has some negative and some positive consequences for financial analysts