Convergence Between Ifrs And Usgaap

As the responsibilities of the global harmonization of accounting standards IFRS and GAAP transfer to IASB, FASB’s influence is waning. Advantages of the convergence include high quality financial reporting, which lowers cost of capital for investors and the cost of borrowing for companies. However, there are disadvantages to be noted, such as the costs of introducing IFRS to current and potential accountants and the risk of reducing the uniformity of financial reports due to the lax rulings of IFRS, which promotes earnings management amongst companies. Although arguments regarding the convergence remain prevalent, the completion of IFRS and GAAP is inevitable. Come year 2015, accountants, investors, and companies alike will discover whether or not the pros outweighed the cons; or vice versa.

As stated earlier, the IASB arose from specific needs of the accounting industry and the public. As international trade has increased, the need for transnational accounting information has increased as well. This sparked the demand for development of international accounting standards to make financial data between countries more comparable. In 1973, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) was formed to develop these international standards. The standards issued by the IASC, prior to 2001, were called International Accounting Standards (IASs). In 2001, the IASC made the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) the official international standard-setting body. The standards issued by the IASB are called International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, 2011, p. 82-87).

The IFRS is basically a set of accounting rules which are issued by the IASB based in London, UK. These accounting standards have originated from its predecessor IASC defining the term IAS, which occurred in the 70’s. it was only after 2000’s that the IASB took a strong hold under the label IFRS claiming to be a lot more independent even though pertaining to its predecessor, efficiently staffed and better funded. Caffermen and zeff (2006) discuss about the gradual spread of accounting has made a considerable progress over time, and with the adoption of IFRS worldwide, accounting procedures could be smoothened.

A joint convergence committee created the members of (FASB) and (IASB). (IASB) is recognized as an independent accounting standard-setting body that is similar to (FASB) that joins (GAAP), and is governed by the (IFRS) foundation. Due to this convergence, (AICPA) believes U.S. adoption of a single set of high-quality, globally accepted accounting standards will benefit U.S. financial markets and public companies by enabling preparation of transparent and comparable financial reports throughout the world, (American Institute of CPAs, 2016). Secondly, (AICPA) is dedicated to supplying the whole accounting profession with information, tools and IFRS.com for instance to assimilate as well as implement a new set of standards. As the (AICPA) supports continual convergence of reliable accounting standards between (IFRS) and (GAAP) the mission of completion between (IASB) and (FASB) is prolonged. (AICPA) will always support funding mechanisms of the body-making

International Reporting Standards (IFRS) are standards that are aimed as a global language that is common for affairs of business, to make sure that the accounts of the company can be understood and are of a certain standard that applies worldwide. IFRS are

The International Accounting Standards Board and the IFRS were created in 2001, which replaced the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) (IFRS ,2016). The monitoring board was created in 2009 (IFRS ,2016). ISAB and IFRS work to bring transparency, accountability and efficicenny to financial markets around the world (IFRS , 2016). The accounting standards are set as requirements to be allowed by organizations when the financial statements are prepared (IFRS, 2016). Standards are set by the IASB are the IFRS Standards (IFRS, 2016).

On November 18, 2002 the FASB and IASB came together at a meeting in Norwalk, Connecticut to start the wheels in motion for the purpose of establishing a new set of financial standards. The FASB and IASB are committed to create financial standards that will be accepted both domestically and internationally that are of high quality and compatible for financial reporting. At present more than a 100 countries already use the International Financial Reporting Standards. The U.S. at present has not accepted a changed in accounting procedures; therefore, this is going to be a major task for both the FASB and IASB to complete successfully this union. I do believe that the partnership between the FASB and IASB will achieve the goals of creating a common financial reporting set of standards that will be accepted by all.

In a previous study on the usefulness of convergence, a comparison of firms implementing IFRS in 27 countries matched against sample of similar size and industry firms in the US found, the use of converged IFRS standard by US firms instead of US GAAP led to a more established accounting system with value relevance comparability (E.Barth, R.Landsman, Lang, & Williams, 2012, p. 6). In contrast, Jamal et al (2010) state “The need for a global accounting regulator is overstated. A global regulator is unlikely to help achieve the stated goals of comparability and consistency of financial reporting on a global basis” Based on the joint standard of IFRS15/ASU606 issued, there appears to be a compromise on both IASB and FASB’s part to include and exclude certain aspects therefore, although the gap is reduced, full convergence is far from being achieved. The decision makers at IASB therefore, due to inability to achieve the true goal of convergence, is resorted to undertake a vague position and compromise with the ‘allocation model’ (now known as ‘performance obligation’ model in the final joint standard issued) (Biondi, et al., 2014, p. 29). Nevertheless, in terms of usefulness to stakeholders, the joint standard addresses the problem arising from the original IAS18&IAS11/ASC605

The IFRS were introduced in 2001 when the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) took over from the old International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). The move to these standards have been part of a movement for accounting which has seen a lot of countries change the way they go about their domestic accounting and instead use the international standards for more consistency across the globe (Brochet, Jagolinzer & Riedl, 2013).

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Standards Accounting Board (FASB) in the United States are working towards convergence between US GAAP and the IFRS, which are the two major accounting standards in the world. Most of the other nations in the world with their own accounting standards are also working towards convergence. The process has been ongoing for several years, and the organizations involved issue updates periodically in order to ensure that both the accounting profession and the general public are aware of the state of the convergence process.

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are working together to eliminate a variety of difference between the United States generally accepted accounting procedures (U.S. GAAP or GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This convergence project grew out of an agreement reached by the two boards in 2002 (Deloitte, 2004).

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are the most used set of accounting principles across the world. IFRS are issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), an independent, private-sector. Over 12,000 companies in more than 116 countries have adopted IFRS, and more countries are continuing to adopt the standards each year. (IFRS, 2015).

The IFRS are the standards, interpretations and the framework adopted and developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) (Freeman, 2014). These set of ac-counting standards would improve comparability of financial information as well as the flow and pricing of capital (Epstein at al 2009). IFRS is becoming the global standard for the prep-aration of company financial statements (Freeman, 2014). International compatible financial statements assist in lending decisions, loan monitoring, and establish international vendor credit and development of other international business relationship (Evans, et al.., 2005).

In response and in order to stimulate the appetite for the need of harmonizing accounting standards, the International Accounting Standards Committee (I.A.S.C.) was formed in 1973 to develop global accounting standards. The I.A.S.C. now acts as an umbrella organization similar to the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) in the US.

The IASB Conceptual framework for Financial Reporting (the ‘Conceptual Framework’) with its accounting standards becomes important for the reason that the business is more complex, and there are various definitions of accounting information in different countries. In this essay, for the first part, it would be discussed whether the conceptual framework is beneficial or not to the development of International accounting standards with several examples. For the second part, it would be also examined that IASB framework with its accounting standards is developed from country to country, and there are differences which have also been caused by a variety of economic, cultural as well as linguistic circumstances.