Diversity of National and International Accounting Practices

KNOWLEDGE International Journal, 2019

The subject of research in this work is the accounting of enterprises on a global scale. The subject of the article is to develop a global accounting framework for preparing and presenting the financial statements of business enterprises. The primary objective of the study is by analyzing the applicable accounting frameworks of IFRS, US and EU to derive the concept of financial reporting fundamentals. In the article is supported the thesis that the integration of different national accounting legislation and internationally applicable accounting frameworks is a theoretical and practical possible and feasible process at the center of which lies the deductive conceptual approach. The ultimate outcome of accounting integration will be reflected in the global adoption of the concept that financial reporting is a whole, comprehensive and complete process that aims to provide high quality information about the entity's business, the results achieved and the effectiveness of its operations, the changes in its cash flows and equity. The research approach is aimed at carrying out a structural analysis of the fundamental rules, norms and requirements of the conceptual frameworks of IFRS and the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles as well as the EU Accounting Regulations. On this basis, on the one hand, the basic similarities and resemblances of the accounting frameworks in question are systematized and, on the other hand, their most significant contradictions are summarized. An attempt has been made to outline the factors, conditions and circumstances that have led to the establishment and adoption of different concepts in the accounting and presentation of financial statements of business enterprises. The article presents the role and importance of the processes of harmonization, convergence and adaptation of accounting rules as part of the evolutionary development of financial reporting. The author draws special attention to the fact that the integration of financial reporting should not be absolutized. Accounting globalization implies that, at global level, basic concepts, principles, rules and bases of accounting and presentation of aggregated accounting information are adopted in the financial statements of enterprises but at the same time hierarchically subject to specific rules and norms corresponding to the local , national and regional specificities. Although a global consensus has been reached on the purpose of financial reporting, at an individual enterprise level, accounting needs to meet the objectives, requirements and needs of both the owners of the capital and the external users of the summarized accounting information. In this regard, the European Union's experience with the enterprise categorization approach and, for each category, the applicable accounting basis and the minimum requirements for the content and structure of the financial statements can be successfully used internationally.

2010

The objective of the present paper is to provide a synopsis of the recent international financial reporting developments as well as to identify some of the related worldwide implications. The unprecedented joint activity of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)

IMPACT : International Journal of Research in Business Management, 2021

Fundamentally, the international effort to achieve a common set of accounting standards is not an easy task. It has started long ago to correct the differing and varying national accounting standards and principles in different parts of the world, however, the ultimate aim is to move towards harmonization. The process of harmonization seeks to bring all the different standards and reporting for better comparability, consistency, and reliability and to shorten the gap of these different streams of accounting rules, regulations, policies, practices, principles, and guidelines The objective of this current study is to review and understand the emerging issues, challenges, and benefits of adopting and achieving a common set of globally accepted accounting standards that are high quality, understandable, comparable, consistent, and reliable. However, the huge benefit of comparability and consistency can be made and that reliable and relevant accounting information is needed more than ever in the capital market to enhance investment opportunities and improve the investor’ s economic decision- making. There remain some strong national accounting standards, laws, and regulations that are simultaneously practiced, accepted, and working well in certain countries and jurisdictions. The existence of different accounting principles would serve as a threat to the harmonization and convergence process. Consistent with such gains, it is hoped that the accounting world over time would be controlled and guided by a single set of standards that are universally accepted, comparable and usable in different jurisdictions.

Accounting has no meaning without standards due to professionalism. The use and application of standards in accounting gets so importance that it will not go wrong if it is termed as a legal discipline. By the time, the world has given accounting the certification of international discipline. So, it is apt to say that as an international discipline, accounting should have a single set of standards for all for harmonizing the practice in a global scenario. But the reality is that we still have various streams of accounting standards like US GAAP, UK GAAP, IAS, and so on. These different streams are the threat for accounting against its harmonization of practices. Though the world has witnessed a lot of initiatives taken to reduce the streams into one in recent years, still we cannot ensure the final sophistication in this regard. The paper focuses on the convergence issue, its current status, challenges with special reference to Indian perspective.

Business and Politics, 2005

We are currently witnessing the evolution of global accounting standards, as developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). This is a remarkable development, not only because accounting standards are relevant for all business operations. Whereas accounting standard-setting has previously been a task of national authorities, the process will now be managed internationally by a London-based organisation whose parent foundation is a private company incorporated in the US state of Delaware and mainly financed by the Big Four accounting firms. Furthermore, the US appear to be willing to accept foreign standards that are quite different from their own Generally Accepted Accounting Standards (GAAP). This does not only contradict a widespread perception that equals globalization with Americanization, but also offers a remarkable contrast to US unilateralism in other policy fields. Finally, we are also amidst a major change in the substance of accounting standards, as indicated by a shift from historic cost to fair value accounting within the work of the IASB. This special issue of Business and Politics is devoted to a systematic explanation of these developments, drawing on concepts from International Relations, International Political Economy and Systems Theory.

2005

We are currently witnessing the evolution of global accounting standards,

This paper presents a descriptive report highlighting the efforts of accounting professionals to develop a common set of accounting standards for global use. We provide a history of the original organization that was formed in 1973 to accomplish this task; the transformation of the organization in 2001; and the results of the efforts of this organization and others. While the convergence to international standards is far from complete, we discover that many of the countries have some kind of convergence plan in place.

Istanbul University - DergiPark, 2017

Ekonomik küreselleşme, birçok alanda olduğu gibi muhasebe uygulamalarını da etkilemiştir. Muhasebe konusundaki etkisi uluslararası muhasebe standartları ve bağımsız denetim alanında kendisini göstermiştir. Avrupa Birliği ülkelerini n 2005 yılında New York borsasından yararlanma isteklerinin baskısı ile bu standartları uygulamaya başlamaları Türkiye'yi de standartların uygulanması doğrultusunda etkilemiştir. Bunun yanında uluslararası kurumların istekleri de bu standartların yaygınlaştırılması doğrultusunda olunca, Türkiye'deki çalışmalar da hızlanmıştır. Son yıllarda Türk Ticaret Kanununun getirdiği hükümler ve Kamu Gözetimi Muhasebe ve Denetim Standartları Kurumunun oluşturulması, Türkiye Muhasebe Standartlarının hazırlanması ve uygulamasını da daha etkin olarak gündeme getirmiştir. Bu gelişmelere paralel olarak dünya çapında şirketlerin kullanacağı ortak bir muhasebe sisteminin oluşturulması amacıyla 1973 yılında IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) kurulmuş ve Uluslararası Muhasebe Standartları (UMS), Uluslararası Finansal raporlama Standartları (UFRS) adı altında uluslararası alanda kabul gören muhasebe standartları oluşturulmuştur. Bu ortak muhasebe uygulamalarının etkin olarak kullanılması amacıyla 1 ocak 2005 tarihinden itibaren Avrupa Birliği'nde halka açık şirketlere, kamuya açıkladıkları konsolide

International Business Research, 2009

The journey to have a common set of accounting standards started long before to give it a professional shape and essence. And accountants all over the world feel the necessity to shorten the gap among different streams of accounting practices through harmonization. Still, we have a couple of strong variants of accounting practices (say, for example, US GAAP, UK GAAP, IAS etc.) over the world existed and practiced simultaneously. These variants are working as threats towards harmonization of accounting practices. However, the profession has also witnessed some improvements in recent years in the process of global convergence putting some ray of hope. International and even local standard setting bodies have come up with projects of harmonization and in most of the cases became successful.