The Arrival Of A New GAAP: International Financial Reporting Standards

Abstract

This article examines the International Accounting Standards Board’s efforts to create greater comparability and uniformity in global financial reporting. Prefacing this will be an examination of 1) the reasons for past and present inter-country reporting differences and 2) the changes that have affected the governing structure of the international financial reporting environment. Most importantly, however, this article explores the areas that will be most impacted when companies move to a uniform group of international accounting standards. An understanding of the accounting regulatory process and the changes underway is important for all businesses professionals, including those in large and small businesses alike, and understanding how to read and interpret the language of business is important to competing in today’s smaller world.