Convergence between US GAAP and IFRS: Acceptance of IFRS by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Abstract

The world's capital markets stand to benefit significantly from widespread acceptance and use of global accounting standards that are high quality, comprehensive and rigorously applied. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in April 2007 a series of actions it intends to take relating to the acceptance of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). To implement this, the SEC proposed in July 2007 amendments to Form 20-F and conforming changes to SEC Regulation S-X to accept financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS without reconciliation to US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) when contained in the filings of foreign private issuers with the SEC. This paper analyses the forces driving convergence between US GAAP and IFRS and discusses the most recent activities by the SEC in relation to IFRS and international cooperation, including the SEC vote as of 15 November 2007, to allow foreign private issuers to prepare their financial statements using IFRS as issued by the IASB without reconciling to US GAAP.     

Profit Measurement and UK Accounting Standards: A Case of Increasing Disharmony in Relation to US GAAP and IASs

UK accounting practice differs from International Accounting Standards (IASs) particularly with regard to amortisation of goodwill, provision for deferred taxation and the accounting treatment of pension costs. Under the core standards programme of the IASC the IASs have emerged closer to US practice. This paper evaluates the profit of those UK companies reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1988 and 1994, spanning a period which saw the establishment of the ASB and the implementation of the IASC's comparability project. An increasing gap was found between the reported profit under UK accounting principles and that restated under US GAAP. The difference lay most frequently in accounting for goodwill, provision for deferred tax, and the accounting treatment of pension costs, with accounting for goodwill showing a particularly significant impact in 1994. Notwithstanding the introduction of FRS 10, an overall impression of increasing disharmony could continue to cause reconciliations to be required of UK companies seeking full listing on a US stock exchange, with consequent disadvantage relative to companies in other European countries seeking international capital in the US.     

Raleigh building products: A teaching case that highlights the differences between IFRS and US GAAP

Within 5 years, the United States will join the rest of the world’s industrialized countries and many emerging economies in adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). However, many educational programs have not yet developed full curricula or integrated case studies in existing programs to compare and contrast how US GAAP and IFRS would record and present major accounting transactions.Based on events that reflect real world scenarios, this study presents a series of three Raleigh Building Products cases as an instrument to fill the current IFRS education void. The first case in the series discusses US GAAP acquisition and consolidation activities, the second case examines asset and intangible impairment under US GAAP and IFRS, and the last case adds components that differ significantly between US GAAP and IFRS. The series of cases can be used stand alone or build upon each other throughout the semester. The combined cases focus on the following key concepts: (1) calculating acquisition price; (2) preparing combination financial statements including deleting LIFO reserves; (3) measuring goodwill and other intangibles; (4) determining the impairment of goodwill due to economic declines; and (5) comparing fundamental differences between US GAAP to IFRS. The attached teaching notes detail these matters and discuss the statements of cash flows under US GAAP and IFRS.Results from classroom use indicate that this case will benefit accounting students and practitioners as IFRSs become effective in the US.     

Layering of IFRS and Dual Institutionality of Accounting Standards in Belarus

There is an ongoing debate about the applicability and efficacy of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in countries with diverse institutional infrastructures. We examine financial reporting in Belarus and factors that are shaping its development. In Belarus, IFRS has been adopted through layering where it is an additional requirement to the existing reporting specified by the national accounting regulations. We explore how global standards were transposed and function in a highly specific institutional context. Based on an examination of reporting in the banking sector, we conclude that different objectives of IFRS and local reporting contribute to dual institutionality of standards where differing formats target the needs of diverse users. Thus, adoption through layering is unlikely to contribute to convergence between different reporting standards used for different purposes, and parallel reporting is expected to persist. By examining financial reporting practices in Belarus, we provide insights for practitioners, regulators, and standard-setters on implementation of IFRS in countries with similar heavy state involvement, and still using local regulations and traditions in parallel with IFRS.     

印度会计规范及其国际趋同研究

在进行会计规范国际化的研究时,我国往往总是以经济发达国家为参照,然而印度在人口、经济发达程度与发展速度等方面与我国有一定的相似性,印度在应对会计国际化方面的一些做法,也许对我们有所启示。本文主要对印度会计规范形式、制订过程、国际化动因与程度、国际化应对措施等内容进行了探讨。     

国际保险会计准则的最新发展及对我国的影响——基于IFRS17和IFRS9

中国采用了会计准则与国际财务报告准则实际持续趋同的路径。国际会计准则理事会IFRS 17与IFRS 9的发布与生效,将对中国保险行业的会计实务、财务信息、经营管理与战略等多方面产生重大影响与冲击。本文讨论国际保险会计准则最新变化对我国的影响,分析IFRS 17关于保险合同会计准则确认、计量与披露的重大调整,讨论IFRS 17与IFRS 9与我国当前会计实务的差异与影响,在此基础上讨论我国保险合同会计与保险公司所面临的改革与挑战。     

美国股票期权会计准则比较及借鉴

美国股票期权会计制度的发展 美国两个最主要的股票期权会计准则为会计原则委员会(AccountingPrinciples Board，以下简称APB)在1972年订立的APB第25号意见书和财务会计准则委员会(Financial Accounting……     

Accounting Classification in the IFRS Era

The degree to which, and the purposes for which, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been adopted vary internationally. This paper uses classification techniques in order to investigate the reaction of countries, or companies within them, to IFRS. In addition, this paper investigates five aspects of this; for example, whether European countries mandate IFRS for unconsolidated financial reports. Previous classifications in accounting are used to help to predict and explain this.     

美国会计准则的评价与借鉴

美国人一直自诩美国公认会计原则(GAAP)是世界上最好的会计准则,是制定会计规范的黄金标准。其公开公正的制定程序、宽广深厚的理论基础、科学完备的结构层次、全面的业务覆盖范围,堪称会计理论与实务恰当结合的典范,代表世界会计准则问题研究的中心,很多东西的确值得我们学习和借鉴。 一、值得借鉴的一些方面1.有明确的工作目标和严格的制定程序。美国会计准则制定机构很早就认识到会计准则决不仅仅是一种技术程序,而是有经济后果的,其实质是经济利益的再分配,其制定程序是在相关各方利益冲突条件下的一种公共选择过程,因此对会…     

SEC在美国会计准则建设中的作用及启示

2001年12月2日，美国能源巨子安然公司(Enron)宣告破产，成为美国历史上最大的一起破产案，其破产金额高达500亿美元，投资者损失达320亿美元，雇员退休金损失超过10亿美元，主要债权人摩根大通和花旗集团……     

Multiple Dimensions of Accounting in the Development of GAAP

The phrase 'accepted accounting principles' underlying financial statements is a forerunner of today's accounting standards. Here, it is argued that history shows that the term 'principles' is often most vague in debates on the development of those standards. The reasons for and consequences of that vague use are varied and complex. This article provides insights not highlighted in earlier analyses of the periods reviewed. While debates like the rule- versus principle-based standards are set up as two-dimensional, the many dimensions of accounting often allow argument to be easily diverted. The debate/argument thus remains unresolved. For progress to be achieved in the establishment of accounting standards the many dimensions of accounting must be acknowledged and attempts to divert debate minimized. Those with a stake in the development of accounting standards need to consider the total scene of the related accounting. In a particular debate, dimensions under scrutiny must be stated, with any others in that total scene being acknowledged even if kept constant.     

Discussion of ‘Accounting Premium’ for IAS/IFRS and U.S. GAAP Vis-à-vis German GAAP”

Ernstberger and Vogler [Ernstberger, J. & Vogler, O. (2008-this issue). Analyzing the German Accounting Triad with an Enhanced Multifactor Model—‘Accounting Premium’ for IAS/IFRS and U.S. GAAP Vis-à-vis German GAAP. International Journal of Accounting.] employ the concurrent use of three distinct accounting-standard regimes (German GAAP; U.S. GAAP; and IAS/IFRS GAAP) in Germany as a foundation for evaluating the relation between accounting standard regime and equity-return attributes. They find that firms using U.S. or IAS/IFRS GAAP have higher betas but yield lower returns (cost of capital) relative to firms employing German GAAP. They also find that portfolios designed to isolate the return impacts of U.S. and IAS/IFRS GAAP relative to German GAAP are priced in a risk-factor-like fashion. In this discussion I suggest that a good bit of this empirical evidence is problematic. I also discuss the implausibility of information quality being priced in a Fama and French [Fama, E.F. & French, K.R. (1992). The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns. The Journal of Finance 47 (2): 427–465.] factor-like fashion. Finally, I introduce the importance of conditioning analyses of the relation between firm-level information quality and equity-market return (cost of capital) on the degree to which the shareholder base of a firm holds diversified portfolios.     

当前美国会计准则的发展趋势及若干思考

随着社会经济的发展 ,美国会计准则也处在不断的改革与完善之中。根据近年来美国会计准则的改革动态 ,本文探讨了美国会计准则的三大发展趋势 :致力于发展高质量的会计准则、研究会计准则制定模式的改革以及积极与国际会计准则接轨等 ,并提出了作者的若干思考。     

由美国会计准则的制定方式和概念框架在GAAP中层次的发展想到的

一、美国会计准则的制订方式将向以原则为基础、以目标为导向发展2000年后,美国上市公司连续出现安然、世通等财务欺诈案件,导致了《2002萨班斯—奥克斯莱法案》的出台。该法案的重要性,特别是对财务会计和报告的影响,不亚于1933年《证券法》和1934年的《证券交易法》。除组建上市公司会计监督委员会(PCAOB),加强对独立审计师的监管外,会计方面主要采取两大措施:一是改革会计准则的制订方式,提出从以规则为基础(Pules—based),转向以目标为导向,以原则为基础(Anobjectives—oriented,Principlesbased);二是改进完善现有的财务会计概念公…     

The effects of harmonization and convergence with IFRS on the timeliness of earnings reported under Chinese GAAP

This study examines the effects of a series of harmonization and convergence with IFRS on the timeliness of recognition of earnings in emerging Chinese markets. We find that earnings reported under Chinese GAAP have a lower earnings response coefficient, but a higher future earnings response coefficient, than earnings reported under IFRS before Chinese GAAP converged with IFRS in 2007. This indicates that earnings reported under Chinese GAAP are generally less timely than earnings reported under IFRS before convergence. We also find that the future earnings response coefficient of earnings reported under Chinese GAAP continues to increase, indicating that the timeliness of recognition of earnings reported under Chinese GAAP worsened after a series of harmonization and convergence with IFRS in China. Taken together, this study provides evidence indicating that harmonizing and converging national accounting standards with IFRS in emerging capital markets may not necessarily increase accounting quality.     

会计双重披露差异与中国会计标准的国际协调研究述评

本文回顾了1997～2002年间与境内外报告会计差异及中国会计标准国际协调有关的经验研究文献,并对此类研究的基本发现与研究局限进行了初步总结和评价。     

Attribute differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS earnings: An exploratory study

In this study we explore attribute differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS earnings. Our study is motivated by the ongoing harmonization process in accounting standard setting as well as by recent convergence projects by the FASB and the IASB. We test two market-based earnings attributes, i.e., value relevance and timeliness, as well as two accounting-based earnings attributes, i.e., predictability and accrual quality. These attributes are tested for German New Market firms as they are allowed to choose between IFRS and U.S. GAAP for financial reporting purposes. Overall, we find that U.S. GAAP and IFRS only differ with regard to predictive ability. The fact that U.S. GAAP accounting information outperforms IFRS also holds after controlling for differences in firm characteristics, such as size, leverage and the audit firm. However, our results also seem to suggest that these differences are not fully valued by investors, as we do not observe significant and consistent differences for the value-relevance attribute.     

我国会计标准与国际会计标准的差异分析及国际趋同的思考

本文从我国B股上市公司、金融类上市公司双重审计的制度背景出发 ,以B股和金融类上市公司的年度报告中的双重审计差异为基础 ,对我国会计标准和国际会计标准进行综合比较研究 ,对存在的差异做出了分析与评价 ,并提供了有关的政策建议。     

Domestic Accounting Standards, International Accounting Standards, and the Predictability of Earnings

We investigate (1) whether the variation in accounting standards across national boundaries relative to International Accounting Standards (IAS) has an impact on the ability of financial analysts to forecast non-U.S. firms' earnings accurately, and (2) whether analyst forecast accuracy changes after firms adopt IAS. IAS are a set of financial reporting policies that typically require increased disclosure and restrict management's choices of measurement methods relative to the accounting standards of our sample firms' countries of domicile. We develop indexes of differences in countries' accounting disclosure and measurement policies relative to IAS, and document that greater differences in accounting standards relative to IAS are significantly and positively associated with the absolute value of analyst earnings forecast errors. Further, we show that analyst forecast accuracy improves after firms adopt IAS. More specifically, after controlling for changes in the market value of equity, changes in analyst following, and changes in the number of news reports, we find that the convergence in firms' accounting policies brought about by adopting IAS is positively associated with the reduction in analyst forecast errors.     

语境文化、翻译策略与会计准则习得效率——基于中国与国际会计准则文本的实验证据

虽然中国企业会计准则(ASBE)在内容上实现了与国际财务报告准则(IFRS)实质趋同,但在体例结构与语言特征上采取了与IFRS迥异的本土化风格。研究借鉴Hall(1976)语境文化理论比较了ASBE文本的高语境特征与IFRS中译本的低语境特征、基于Nida(1964)功能等效翻译理论识别了ASBE文本的归化翻译策略及IFRS中译本的异化翻译策略。研究还采用实验研究方法检验了中国会计专业学生在不同任务模式下对ASBE与IFRS中译本的习得效率。实证结果表明低语境准则文本更有利于解决复杂任务模式下的会计问题,而对IFRS的归化翻译处理有助于提高复杂任务模式下会计准则习得效率。研究进一步探究了文本完整性与可读性因素在上述影响过程中的中介作用机制,并对中国会计准则的进一步国际趋同及IFRS基金会的会计准则全球化愿景提供了文本层面的政策建议。