Purpose – This paper aims to review the literature on IFRS in Saudi context in order to identify the key areas of IFRS revealed by existing studies.   Design/methodology/approach – Underpinned by a systematic review method including the synthesis of various archival materials, papers from across Saudi Arabia are summarised and categorised under three main themes: IFRS adoption, IFRS versus Saudi GAAP, and IFRS benefits versus costs.  Findings – The findings suggest that institutional variables such as cultural, economic, and educational factors have affected the implementation of IFRS in the Saudi context. Studies that compared principles-based (IFRS) versus rules-based Saudi accounting (GAAP) indicated that various differences exist between both sets of standards. However, the benefits of IFRS outweigh the costs. Originality/value – This review finds inadequate research on IFRS in the Saudi context. It finds that majority of the existing studies focus on IFRS adoption, comparing the benefits versus the costs of the standards and also comparing between IFRS and Saudi GAAP. However, a very limited number of studies investigate other important areas including IFRS education and IFRS value of relevance. The findings also reveal that institutional theory is the dominant theory used across the majority of studies in the Saudi context, despite others, such as agency theory and economic theory, also being appropriate for use in studies related to IFRS. Hence, this research attempts to fill a gap in the IFRS literature by covering the relevant studies related to IFRS.