Accounting and Auditing Research and Databases: Practitioner's Desk Reference

The International Accounting Environment

Efforts have increased during the past decade to move nations toward using international standards. The movement toward harmonization and convergence has included the activities of supranational groups and individual scholars. Harmonization moves toward reducing the overall number of alternatives but still allows for them as long as the alternatives do not conflict with IFRS. On the other hand, convergence moves toward adoption of one set of standards. Exhibits 3-1¹ and 3-2² depict the significant global and U.S. IFRS convergence efforts since inception, respectively. Included in the global category are the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the European Union (EU).

Exhibit 3-1 Global IFRS Timeline

Source: Mastering the FASB Codification and eIFRS: A Case Approach, 1st ed.

Exhibit 3-2 U.S. IFRS Timeline

Source: Mastering the FASB Codification and eIFRS: A Case Approach, 1st ed.

The IASB, through a due process procedure described later in this chapter, has issued a number of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) that incorporate the previously issued International Accounting Standards (IAS) ...