International Standardisation and Harmonisation: a New Measurement Technique

We argue in this paper that it is the availability of alternative accounting treatments and the use by individual firms of the appropriate method that produces financial statements which are comparable. Accordingly, international harmony in accounting should be seen as a state in which firms throughout the world are able to use an internationally-recognised accounting treatment that is appropriate to their circumstances without being constrained to do otherwise by local accounting regulations or other requirements to adopt practices confined to particular nations. The paper distinguishes harmonisation from standardisation and presents a method for measuring harmonisation which allows for choice between alternative accounting treatments. The statistical model also takes account of the stylised fact that accounting treatments are not mutually exclusive, and the method is illustrated by an analysis of goodwill accounting practices in Europe.