Discussion

Week 1
Topic 1
Financial Reporting Case
IFRS1-5 The following comments were made at an Annual Conference of the
Financial Executives Institute (FEI).
There is an irreversible movement toward the harmonization of financial
reporting throughout the world. The international capital markets require an
end to:
1. The confusion caused by international companies announcing
different results depending on the set of accounting standards applied.
2. Companies in some countries obtaining unfair commercial
advantages from the use of particular national accounting standards.
3. The complications in negotiating commercial arrangements for
international joint ventures caused by different accounting requirements.
4. The inefficiency of international companies having to understand
and use a myriad of different accounting standards depending on the
countries in which they operate and the countries in which they raise capital
and debt. Executive talent is wasted on keeping up to date with numerous
sets of accounting standards and the never-ending changes to them.
5. The inefficiency of investment managers, bankers, and financial
analysts as they seek to compare financial reporting drawn up in accordance
with different sets of accounting standards.
Instructions
(a) What is the International Accounting Standards Board?
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is private, independent body
develops and improves IFRS (International Accounting Standards). The IASB was
created in 2001 to replace the IASC (International Accounting Standards Committee). In
setting the accounting standards, the IASB uses the framework that has the four purposes:
Defining the objectives of financial statements; identifying characteristics that make the
information useful; defining the basic elements of financial statements; and providing
concepts of capital maintenance.

References:
www.iasplus.com/en/resources/ifrsf/iasb-ifrs-ic/iasb
www.investopedia.com/terms/i/ias.asp

(b) What stakeholders might benefit from the use of International
Accounting Standards?
(c) What do you believe are some of the major obstacles to
convergence?


Dear professor and class,

I have only a basic accounting experiences (data entry) that I have learned from work
without school because my BA is IT engineer. Getting deeply knowledge and skills of
accounting without school must be difficult for me, and thus I decide to take some
courses of accounting.