The Convergence Of Gaap And Ifrs

The major benefit of this proposal is that agreement exists that there is more objectivity in measuring and determining changes in assets and liabilities than there is in measuring and determining the completion of the earning process. After taking comment letters on the discussion paper of December 2008 and an initial exposure draft in June of 2010, the boards issued a revision of the proposal in “Proposed Accounting Standards Update (Revised), Revenue Recognition (Topic 605) – Revenue from Contracts with Customers: Revision of Exposure Draft Issued June 24, 2010.” The new document left the basis of the proposal the same and added implementation guidance and a tentative date for adoption. Recognizing revenue under the standard would be a five-step

The Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) have been working jointly toward the convergence of the U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and the international financial reporting standards (IFRS). However, several arguments still exist as to whether or not U.S. companies should adopt or converge with IFRS. This qualitative study identified the differences noted between rules-based and principles-based accounting, and discussed the impact of these accounting standards on financial reporting. Additionally, several resources were analyzed to understand the path to convergence and the future state of IFRS. The examination of information regarding the transition towards one single set of accounting standards led to the

Since 2002, Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) have been working toward “convergence” of US General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). They have made significant progress in efforts to converge critical accounting standards such as those dealing with revenue recognition, financial instruments and leases. Once these projects are complete, the "era" of convergence will be at an end. Nevertheless, the benefits for investors of eventually getting to consistently applied, high-quality, globally accepted accounting

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

The Company is planning to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the near future and should be made aware of the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) relevant accounting guidelines. While FASB has extensive revenue recognition guidelines, IASB only has one, IAS 18. IASB’s revenue recognition guideline for the sales of goods [IAS 18.14] states that revenue

Revenue recognition accounting standard ensures the correct revenue is recorded for each period of the income statement, it was previously based on the realization principle - requires revenue to be recognized when the earning process is virtually complete and is certain to collectability. FASB & IASB developed a new revenue recognition standard, Revenue from Contracts with Customers,” on May 28, 2014, ASU No 2014-09. (RRPA Revenue Recognition and Profitability Analysis-1-LO1-5).

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.

The revenue recognition framework had significant differences under The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) provisions. The transformation of revenue recognition was necessary to provide the integrity to financial statements. Moreover, new revenue recognition standards should be applicable to all businesses (p50 A New World of Revenue Recognition).

recognition requirements in U.S. GAAP are different from those in IFRSs and both are considered in need of improvement. U.S. GAAP comprises broad revenue recognition concepts and numerous industry or transaction-specific requirements that can result in different accounting for economically similar transactions. Although, IFRSs contain less guidance on revenue recognition, its two main standards IAS 18 Revenue and IAS 11 Construction Contracts can be difficult to understand and apply beyond simple transactions. Also, they lack guidance on important topics such as revenue recognition for multiple-element arrangements.

Another critical requirement for users of financial statements is information, this is addressed through the disclosure of certain principles, policies and procedures to facilitate decision making, which current standards don’t adequately address, hence the issuing of AASB 15. (AASB,2014) Accordingly, a new standard is required to rectify the inconsistencies of revenue recognition and address the lack of consistent and useful information.

There have been a number of proposed and upcoming changes to GAAP and solvency reporting standards in the US, Canada and Europe in recent years. In particular, significant efforts have been made to increase convergence between US GAAP and IFRS. The following report discusses the pros and cons of convergence between standards in different jurisdictions, as well as convergence between GAAP and solvency standards, in relation to insurance contracts. Here, the term ‘GAAP’ refers to financial reporting for investors, shareholders and creditors. Solvency standards refer to the regulatory requirements imposed on insurers. The jurisdictions discussed have been limited to those in which The Greatest Life Insurance Company operates in: namely, the US, Canada and Europe.

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

In the 2008 Memorandum of Understanding between the FASB and IASB regarding the ongoing convergence project involving GAAP and IFRS, revenue recognition was one of the subjects that was supposed to be settled by 2011. This indicates that there is a difference between the way that revenue is recognized under IFRS and the way it is recognized under US GAAP. Deloitte & Touche has prepared a white paper outlining some of the differences between the two that the two agencies are attempting to resolve as part of the convergence process. There are five different areas of difference between the two systems. These are percentage of completion, sell-through-type arrangements, contingent consideration, variable consideration and royalties, and modifications.

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).

Revenue recognition is the accounting principle that deals with the time and method to place income on the books once the earnings process is complete. The United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) is a rule based system that accountants must adhere to when performing accounting tasks. The U.S. GAAP revenue recognition rules allows for exceptions to certain transactions and requires companies to also follow regulations promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Conversely, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is a principle based system that advocates for certain accounting principles that should be applied to all contracts and industries. The IFRS standards are created by the International Accounting Standards Board. In general, the U.S. GAAP accounting framework provides numerous rules on the issue of revenue recognition. Moreover, the U.S. GAAP rules are broken into categories based on the particular industry involved. Some of the industries that have specific U.S. GAAP rules are software and real estate. The IFRS system creates principles that should be applied to all industries without exception. The U.S. GAAP revenue recognition rules focus on realized or realizable revenue and whether it is earned. Conversely, IFRS revenue recognition principles focus on the whether there are potential economic benefits from a transaction and, if so,