IFRS adoption and fraud risk in an emerging economy: multi-method evidence from Morocco

Purpose This study aims to examine how globalization and the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are perceived to shape accounting fraud risk in Morocco, with particular attention to the institutional conditions and organizational mechanisms through which fraudulent practices may emerge. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a qualitative research design to explore the interplay between global pressures, IFRS adoption and accounting fraud in an emerging economy context. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with ten experienced accounting and finance professionals drawn from corporate, auditing and regulatory settings. Interview transcripts were analysed using a multi-stage approach: manual thematic analysis to identify core patterns and mechanisms; sentiment analysis using Python’s TextBlob library to capture emotional valence and subjectivity across themes; and latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling to provide computational triangulation of the manually derived insights. Findings The findings suggest that globalization and IFRS adoption have increased the complexity and subtlety of fraud risk in Morocco. While IFRS is widely perceived to enhance transparency and comparability, its interpretive flexibility – combined with foreign investor pressure, limited local expertise and weak governance structures – creates opportunities for more sophisticated forms of misrepresentation. Participants also highlighted capability gaps, insufficient training and crisis conditions as amplifying fraud risk, alongside emerging concerns related to ESG-related misrepresentation. Practical implications The results suggest that effective anti-fraud responses require context-sensitive strategies that go beyond formal standard adoption. These include targeted IFRS capacity building, stronger enforcement and whistleblowing protections and governance mechanisms adapted to the realities of Moroccan firms operating under global pressures. Originality/value The study contributes by distinguishing accounting fraud from earnings management in the Moroccan IFRS context and by integrating Institutional Theory with the Fraud Diamond to explain how macro-institutional pressures interact with micro-level fraud mechanisms in an emerging economy. Methodologically, it demonstrates the value of combining qualitative analysis with computational text techniques to enhance analytical credibility in sensitive research settings.