In the world of international finance there are two major accounting systems; GAAP, which stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and IFRS, which stands for International Financial Reporting Standards. The United States prefers GAAP while the European market, as well as many other countries, prefers IFRS. By 2015 the Securities Exchange Commission is anticipating a total transfer to IFRS in the United States. Though the differences between GAAP and IFRS are few, they could affect accuracy of financial reporting throughout the world. It is important to understand the differences and similarities between both GAAP and IFRS if one is to globalize ones market (Logue).
What is IFRS, and what is its significance in the world market? In 2001 the International Accounting Standards Board, or IASB, was created to develop a set of standards by which global financial statuses could be reported. According to financialstabilityboard.org, this set of standards, known as the International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, falls under the jurisdiction of the IFRS Foundation, which is a non-profit, private and independently run entity that exists for the public interest, is based on four principle objectives. The first is to develop a single set of international financial reporting standards (IFRS). This set would be high in quality, readily understandable, easily enforceable, and acceptable world-wide. The second objective is to encourage the use of this set of standards in the international business world. Thirdly, the ISAB would like to monitor the needs of different sizes and types of businesses in different settings. The fourth objective is to promote the adoption of the IFRS by converging national accounting standards wit...
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...ue their efforts toward a world-wide set of accounting standards.
Works Cited
GAAP vs IFRS. (2014, April 21). Retrieved from Diffen: http://www.diffen.com/difference/GAAP_vs_IFRS
International Convergence of Accounting Standards Overview. (2014, April 21). Retrieved from FASB: http://www.fasb.org/jsp/FASB/Page/SectionPage&cid=1176156245663 International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). (2014, April 21). Retrieved from Financial Stability Board: http://finanicialstabilityboard.org/cos/cos_021001a.htm Logue, A. C. (2014, April 21). Comparing U.S. GAAP and IFRS Accounting Systems. Retrieved from Dummies: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/comparing-us-gaap-and-ifrs-accounting-systems... Nguyen, J. (2010, Febuary 26). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved April 21, 2014, from Investopedia:
http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/09/ifrs-gaap.asp
Switching to IFRS will help not just companies but also investors and public globally to compare financial statements. If every country has different financial standards, if would be problematic to compare how each company stands because they are not the same.
U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), formerly known as iGAAP, are two accounting standards used in today’s world of financial reporting. These standards have differences as well as similarities in reporting requirements. Organizations in the United States are required to follow GAAP principles in preparing financial statements and other financial reports. Whereas, organizations outside of the United States may follow IFRS. Balance sheet reporting and formatting is an area in which GAAP and IFRS may differ, yet be similar in many respects. The balance sheet is a financial statement of what a company owns and what it owes at a given date and time (Spiceland, Sepe, & Nelson, 2013). This paper will address differences and similarities in respect to balance sheet reporting and formatting as it relates to fixed assets and liabilities, inventory, and goodwill.
Now more than ever it is important to know what IFRS is and what AICPA and IMA are, especially pertaining to their ethical standards. IFRS or the International Accounting Standards Board is a group of highly experienced professionals in the accounting field. They deal with the setting of standards, as well as preparing, auditing or using financial reports, and educating future accountants. The AICPA or the American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants is a non-profit organization of American Certified Public Accountants (CPA) who create
We would love for these impacts to always have a positive impact; however the impact can affect a company in a negative manner. “ Researchers Holger Daske, Leuz Hail, Christian Leuz and Rodrigo Verdi examined 3,100 firms in 26 countries mandated to adopt IFRS in “Mandatory IFRS Reporting around the World: Early Evidence on the Economic Consequences”. The study examines the economic effects of IFRS, both early and mandated adoption” (Bolt-Lee). They were able to conclude that a company’s adoption of IFRS creates strong economic benefits in countries with rigid regulation over financial reporting. The article also explains that these benefits include an increase in the stock’s market value, an increase in market liquidity, and a lower cost of capital. Companies with major differences between GAAP and IFRS standards show the greatest benefit when supported by a strong regulatory
There remain many differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS. The main difference is the conceptual framework. U.S. GAAP is a rule based accounting system while IFRS is a principle based accounting system. U.S. GAAP has over 25,000 pages of information while IFRS has 2,500 (Herrmann & Diamond, 2008). This difference leads to a different approach from those interpreting the standards, the principle based system of IFRS will require more judgement calls.
GAAP reporting standards (AICPA, n.d.). A private business owner can utilize the concise and familiar accounting principles and accrual income tax or cash basis method of financial reporting to assess the company’s performance and provide relatable decision-making information to stakeholders (AICPA, n.d.). Moreover, it is a cost-effective measure for business owners that do not have to comply with U.S. GAAP base financial statements. In addition, CPAs can provide value pricing by preparing meaningful and concise reporting to internal and external parties. However, a business owner should carefully consider and examine the available options before deciding on an appropriate reporting framework. In order to provide the best short-term and long-term solution, it is imperative to consider a company’s business structure and future
This essay will discuss the influence NZ Framework brings to financial reporting standards that included NZ GAAP based on the debate between principles-based and rule-based. In particular, it will portray: (1) the nature and orientation of financial reporting framework and GAAP; (2) the main improvement of NZ Framework and the applications framework guided in NZ GAAP.
157, they can be referred to as the two gates mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV) as it says, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” FASB and IFRS have a difficult task in that they are pressured by many special interest and political groups to write standards in a particular way. When it comes to their explanations, their response can take two roads, one that is wide and easy or one that is narrow and difficult to make. Based on the roads they take will display their independence to the end user. As the end user of financial statements increase, so will the pressures of accommodating special interest groups. But as Jesus stated, the way is hard and few will find
... used throughout the world, The International accounting Standards Committee (IASC) was the first international standards-setting body formed in June 1973. The IASC operated until April 1, 2001 when it was reorganized and became an independent international standard setter, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).
The globalization of business has resulted in the need for compatible accounting standards that can be used internationally for financial reporting. As a result, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) were developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to unify the various financial reporting methods and create a single accounting standard which can be applied to any financial statement worldwide (Byatt). The global standardization of financial reporting will increase the readability and enhance comparability of globally traded companies’ financial statements, without the need of conversion or translation. There are a few main differences between the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S GAAP). The increasing recognition and acceptance of the International Financial Reporting Standards by accounting professionals in the United States, will affect the way in which the U.S will record financial statements in the future.
For some investors, it will result in some direct merits, for instances, there will be no need for them to spend an extra fee on learning different kinds of accounting regulations any more. Except this, the risk of taking poor decision caused by misunderstanding different accounting standards will also be reduced. What’s more, Miles and Nobes (1998) stated that the global accounting standards can reduce the risk of missing investment opportunities through avoiding unfamiliar national accounting. That means global accounting standards can promote the cooperation between companies to contribute more financial transactions. Obviously, the appearance of direct merits sometimes comes along with the indirect merits. It is clear that this accounting standard can cut down the cost of adjusting and removing some barriers to international transactions. By the way, engaging more share investment may cut down the capital cost of a company can also be viewed as one of the indirect advantages. And, it seems that there will be no need for governments to regular and monitor domestic accounting regulations by using global standards any more. Moreover, the global standards can also improve the governments’ efficiency instead of making a wasteful duplication
I have applied the IFRS to audit half-year income statement and statement of finical position from domestic sub-company or oversea branches. This allows me to understand the difficultly of dealing with accounting report form different nations. For example, we have to negotiate each report from the U.S. with their reporter by phone. It would take incredibly long time to explain the difference in order to adjust the figures in the reports. During the stuff training, we have been taught that to be professional at everywhere and anytime. Moreover, I realise that the most important feature to be a professional accountancy is responsibility. This is because that a unit of misallocation will cost other team number a huge amount of work to correct it. The experience of taking notes of weekly conferences between senior managers and PWC partner has indicates that how does change in financial policy influence the accounting treatment. For instant, since vice-perminster Mr Le Ke Qiang who visited China Construction Bank at earlier May. He point out that the Rate of Non-Performing Loans could not exceed 7% in the “BIG Four” Chinese bank. This has led Chinese bank to relax its accounting standard of credit rating. It allows me to understand the relationship between government and financial
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) is a set of accounting standards developed by an independent, non-profit making organization popularly known as International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) which was created under the laws of state of Delaware, United States of America, on 8 March, 2001 (IFRS foundation) (IFRS.org, 2017) The objective of the IFRS is to present a unique and comparable accounting framework on how to prepare and disclose their financial statements globally. (Cotter, D., 2012) The most important change that occurred in the history of accounting was the adoption of International Financial reporting standards all around the world.
GAAP is exceptionally useful because it attempts to regulate and normalize accounting definitions, assumptions, and methods. Because of generally accepted accounting principles one is able to presuppose that there is uniformity from year to year in the methods that are used to prepare a company's financial statements. And even though variations might exist, one can make realistically confident conclusions when comparing one company to another, or when comparing one company's financial statistics to the statistics for the industry as a whole. Over the years the generally accepted accounting principles have become more multifaceted because financial transactions have become more intricate (Accounting Principles, 2011).
The third organization that helps to regulate the accounting standards is the IASB. “Our mission is to develop, in the public interest, a single set of high quality, understandable and international financial reporting standards (IFRSs) for general purpose financial statements”(IASB 2008,¶ 1). The IASB consists of a board that is made up from nine different countries with the sole purpose of expanding accounting standards. Their main hope and goal is to one day that there will be only one set of accounting standards that will be used throughout the world.