aInstituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Portugal
bUniversidade do Minho, Portugal
cAustralian National University, National Graduate School of Management, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
Abstract:
This paper analyses three methods for measuring the success achieved in effecting convergence between any two sets of accounting standards. We begin by reviewing a measurement method based on the concept of Euclidean distances. We then propose two better measures (involving Jaccard's coefficients and Spearman's coefficients) to assess the progress of National Accounting Standards setting bodies in converging their standards with International Financial Reporting Standards IFRS]. For illustrative purposes, we measure the convergence of National Accounting Standards in Portugal with International Accounting Standards IAS] and IFRS over the period 1977–2003.