| Abstract: | The Financial Reporting Council has announced a plan to adopt from January 2005 standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. The announcement foreshadows the wholesale replacement of Australia's financial reporting protocol. Unless others make a similar decision, Australia will be the only western country in 2005 to have adopted entirely the IASB's accounting standards for both group and single company reporting. We suggest that the cost, apart from changeover expenses, could be a reduction in the quality of financial reports. We believe that attempts by government agencies to downplay problems in international standard-setting mask a set of political decisions which emphasise expediency, favour larger corporate interests over smaller, and make questionable assumptions about future risks to corporate governance. |
