Financial Reporting : The International Accounting Standards Board

Direct costs for the Ruger Clinic of Toledo, Ohio totaled $100,000 in 2007 and represents the total cost pool. The Ruger's uses direct cost allocation of expenses in the cost pool to three revenue-producing patient services. Drivers under consideration for the allocation of costs are patient service revenue (a direct dollar for dollar allocation) and hours of housekeeping services used (a volume-based activity for allocation). Drivers amounted to the following activity in dollars and volume, respectively:

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) within the United States in the public 's interest. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) designated the FASB as the organization responsible for setting accounting standards for public companies in the U.S. It was created in 1973, replacing the Accounting Principles Board and the Committee on Accounting Procedure of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The Financial Accounting Standards Board 's mission is "to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and

it provides a better indication of ability to generate cash flows than the cash basis.

Accountants have used whatever tactics they could to place a positive spin on the financial statements. Over the years, there was a need for improvements in financial reporting. In 1999, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 34; which caused a major change in the reporting requirements of the government (Fischer, Cheng, & Taylor, 2009). This also led to a very comprehensive accounting process. GASB 34 made big improvements in how the government views their financial statements.

First, this paper will explore the differences and similarities between the financial statements that are required by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP). Secondly, it will provide the needed information to transition the financial statements of Amazon.com Incorporated to the IFRS from its current reporting standards as outlined by the U.S. GAAP. Thirdly, it will provide an in depth analysis of the changes that will be made to the financial statements. Finally, it will outline the visual differences between the U.S. GAAP and the IFRS balance sheet financial statement.

In the last few years, the issue of financial regulations has been increasingly brought to the forefront. This is because of a number of high profile scandals are highlighting how abuses are occurring from the lack of regulation. A good example of this can be seen with adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs). In the early 2000s, this was considered to be an effective way for many low income and minority families to purchase a home. However, as the economy began to slow is when interest rates were reset higher. This resulted in the many of these assets being sold to investors as safe, income orientated securities. (Government Regulations 2008)

As indicated previously, this manual consists of 14 modules designed to facilitate your study for the

2. The two main types of companies permitted to be registered under the Corporations Act are:

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued for public comment two Exposure Drafts related to its disclosure framework project. The first exposure draft proposes amendments to Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts - Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting, Chapter 3 – Qualitative Characteristics of Useful Financial Information. The purpose of this proposed amendment is to clarify the concept of “materiality”. FASB defines materiality as, information is material if omitting it or misstating it could influence decisions that users make on the basis of the financial information of a specific reporting entity. In other words, materiality is an entity-specific aspect of relevance based on the nature or magnitude or both of the items to which the information relates in the context of an individual entity’s financial report. Consequently, the Board cannot specify a uniform quantitative threshold for materiality or predetermine what could be material in a particular situation.

Abercrombie & Fitch uses generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as the basis for the production of its financial statements. In contrast, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) uses international financial report standards (IFRS). H&M also utilizes Swedish GAAP. For its annual report, there is no indication of what standard is used, and there are no official financial statements. H&M does not note what auditing standards it uses in its annual report. By contrast, the ANF Form 10-K notes that the company's auditors use the Internal Control Integrated Framework as laid out by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO), as noted on page 100 of the 2011 Annual Report.

There are several parts of accounting that help make corporations flow smoothly and efficiently. Accounting can be used by anyone in his or her everyday life whether balancing your checkbook or checking on your income statement. In accounting there are several rules, standards, and procedures one must follow in order to maintain fairness and legitimacy. This being said there are two main frameworks that make that possible which are referred to as GAAP and IFRS. GAAP stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, which refers to the accounting standards guidelines and structure for typical accounting used in the United States. IFRS stands for International Financial Reporting Standards, which is a more principle, based accounting

The U.S Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and the International Financial Reporting Standards are the two major accounting standards used by accountants today. The GAAP is currently used only by firms in the United States, while the IFRS is used by firms in 110 countries, including those in the European Union. The U.S Securities and Exchange Commission is in charge of GAAP for public companies, while the Financial Accounting and Standard Board overlooks private companies. The standards for IFRS are set by the International Accounting Standard Board. The main difference that separates the GAAP and the IFRS is that the GAAP was constructed based on rules, while the IFRS was created based on accounting principles. Although there are many similarities in the way most things are done, there are also striking differences regarding the way financial statements are reported, including inventory valuation, balance sheets presentation, asset definition, etc. This paper seeks to identify some of the major discrepancies between GAAP and IFRS, and present arguments people have made for and against converging the two standards.

Before 2001, none of the major economies in the world requires the use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). However, since IFRS was adopted and required by the European Union (EU), IFRS is currently the most widely shared set of accounting standards with its application required or permitted by approximately 120 countries as indicated by the IFRS Resources (2015). IFRS, perceived as “a single set of high-quality, understandable and enforceable accounting standards” (IASB, 2007, p.4), shows its prevalence all around the world. Nevertheless, there are still some opponents against such harmonization. “The likelihood that any U.S. company will be forced to switch from using today’s version of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to using today’s version of IFRS is absolutely zero”(2010), said the specialist in corporate financial reporting, Bruce Pounder, doubting the possibility of eliminating differences between IFRS and U.S. GAAP, not to mention sharing a single set of accounting standards in all countries.

There have been plenty of debates surrounding the two type standards; on one side we have the United States General Accepted Accounting Principle (GAAP) which has always been used until now with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). A committee of accountants from the American Institute of Accountants (AIA) created the first set of US GAAP standards in the 1930s. US GAAP is a set of guidelines made to help publicly traded companies create their financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) serves a similar purpose, but has been globally accepted. European companies first adopted IFRS in 2005, and by 2012 countries such as Japan, Canada, and India had done the same. Since early 2010, FASB and IASB have been working together to converge both of these accounting standards. The SEC has been on board, and although they have not been successful yet, a Work Plan has been developed which lays out factors, which need to be considered before transitioning into a new reporting system. The main topic for this paper is pension and how both differ from GAAP and IFRS. In the research, it will mainly geared towards pension plan and the benefits that differ between the U.S GAAP and IFRS. Through the research the main information comes from the income statement of the company to identify the difference.

The IASB Conceptual Framework is a framework developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). In a nutshell, what this framework does is to lay out the concepts needed for accurate preparation and presentation of financial statements to external users such as auditors, tax authorities, investors, regulatory authorities and so on. According to the IASB, the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting does the following;