Ifrs vs Gaap Essay

The United States is currently going through a big decision. It is deciding on whether to fully adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), or to stay with the current U.S Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Since this is such a major decision, now would be an opportune time to take a look at what the pros and cons would be of switching to this new way of financial reporting, and in doing so, show why I believe the costs (both financial and otherwise) are too high to adopt a new set of reporting standards.

In September 2002 the IASB and the FASB agreed to work together, in consultation with other national and regional bodies, to remove the differences between international standards and US GAAP. (Dorata, 2008) However, the convergence of IFRS and FASB is coming to the end. (Golden, 2013)

The five research articles I have chosen to further my research on the convergence between U.S. GAAP and IFRS are The Implication of US GAAP and IFRS Convergence on American Business by Austin Willmore (2015), IFRS adoption by country by PWC (2015), International Financial Reporting Standards and American Generally Accepted Accounting Principles: the Convergence Lessons by Kuzina (2015), The economic impact of IFRS - a financial analysis perspective by Seay (2014), and Accounting for Leases The New Standard by CPA Journal (2016). These articles are related to my topic, where these researchers researched and analyzed the financial statement reporting on convergence of the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and certain accounts when adopting IFRS present a different result in the financial reporting for U.S. reporting companies when U.S. GAAP standards combined with IFRS. Also, these research articles discuss the existence of two systems of standards, U.S. GAAP and IFRS; and the issue and difficulty of the process to fully converge.

Bohusova, H., & Nerudova, D. (2009). US GAAP AND IFRS CONVERGENCE IN THE AREA OF REVENUE RECOGNITION. Economics & Management, 12-19.

When stakeholders and other interested parties evaluate possible future investments opportunities or financial lending to a corporation, they take a close look at a firm’s performance which is highly measured by revenue; a necessary tool in decision-making. The GAAP standards in the U.S. however are very different from standards by the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards), and both boards are in need of revision.

There are several differences between the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The IFRS is considered more of a "principles based" accounting standard in contrast to U.S. GAAP which is considered more "rules based." By being more "principles based", IFRS, arguably, represents and captures the economics of a transaction better than U.S. GAAP. As a team me collaborated to answer the following seven questions.

Differences Between GAAP and IFRS and Implications of Potential Convergence - Boundless Open Textbook. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2015, from https://www.boundless.com/accounting/textbooks/boundless-accounting-textbook/introduction-to-accounting-1/conventions-and-standards-21/differences-between-gaap-and-ifrs-and-implications-of-potential-convergence-131-7049/

On February 24, the SEC unanimously agreed to publish a statement of continued support for a single set of high-quality global accounting standards. The SEC acknowledged that IFRS is best positioned to be the global standard. Even without a set conversion timeline from the SEC, IFRS has been affecting

For years, IASB and FASB have been working diligently on convergence with IFRS. Different countries develop their own accounting standards based on their unique rules, principles, business base, and tax; however, with globalization it’s very important to reconcile between different accounting standards. Two major standards are the US GAAP and IFRS, and they share many differences and similarities. One of the main differences is the conceptual approach and framework, IFRS is principle based whilst US GAAP is rule based (Forgeas, 2008). When comparing IFRS and US GAAP, we can discover many differences in several areas. Based on note 27 of Swisscom’s consolidated financial statements, today we are going to reconcile and restate its financial statements based on capitalization of interest cost, restructuring charges, depreciation expense, capitalization of software, and restructuring charges of affiliates.

The country selected for this study is the United Kingdom (UK). UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP) has been in place for a long period of time and was harmonized in 2005 so as to comply with the international accounting standards. The UK embraced the principles of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2005 after the European Union (EU) mandated that all members that were publicly listed companies be subject to reporting under the International Accounting Standards (IAS). This was to help facilitate that those listed companies could easily be compared to onr other on their performance and transparency was improved since they were now subject to the same principles of reporting. Companies in the United

The US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is a set of international accounting rules which originated from the United States. US GAAP can be defined as a set of accounting principles, standards and procedures that companies use to compile their financial statements (Elliott & Elliott, 2008). The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the other hand are accounting rules originating from the United Kingdom. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are a set of accounting rules designed with a common global language for business affairs so that financial accounts of companies are understandable and comparable across international boundaries (Devinney, Pedersen & Tihanyi, 2010).

The introduction describes how more countries have adapted the IFRS guidelines and it estimates that the United States may do so in the next decade. Because IFRS is becoming widely accepted, the SEC director is looking into transitioning into IFRS. With the SEC looking into the transition, “public accounting firms are expecting new hires to be aware of the convergence process and the differences in IFRS and GAAP.” (Bandypadhyay, J.& McGee, P.F., 2012) Because of these issues accounting educators, have to become proficient in teaching a new set of rules, while moving from analytical methods to broad based. The specific purpose of this study is the concerns for accounting educators regarding the curriculum impact.

With complete notion and awareness of how each country has their set of rules, “the goal of IFRS is to provide a global framework for how public companies prepare and disclose their financial statements” (Rouse, 2011). This view is meant to provide general guidelines, as well as international comparisons through conventional and edifying means. To bring broader and vivid objectives, IFRS replaced IAS, the older standards, in order to bring a more comprehensive and simplified accounting procedures.

In the 21st century, economic globalization has become an investible trend. With the rapid growth of economic globalization and the growth of international capital markets, international accounting convergence has become an irreversibly realistic issue for countries worldwide. Thus, international accounting convergence has become the focus of the theoretical and practical issues. At the same time, the development has surged in China. Due to the fact that China adopted IFRS as references in

The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have made an impact on the foundations of accounting, resulting in a different stance from the prior UK GAAP. Some of the more noticeable changes included; the increase of government resources being allocated to the standard. Companies will be required to provide all information of the incoming and expenditure of all money and assets under the new regulations. The presentation and terminology were altered in the current “Income Statement” and “Statement of Financial Position” leading to a change of some aspects on the budgets and estimates. “Fair value”; the unbiased evaluation of an assets potential market