國(guó)際會(huì)計(jì)第七版英文版課后答案(第八章)

1、下載可編輯Chapter 8Global Accounting and Auditing StandardsDiscussion Questions1.Argument for measurement:? Discrepanciesininternationalmeasurementmay produceaccountingamounts thatarevastlydifferent(evenwherefinancialtransactionsand positionareidentical), leading to incorrect comparisons.Here it doesnt m

2、atter what isdisclosed; no reliable comparisons are possible anyway.Arguments for disclosure:?If companiesdonotdisclosecompleteinformation,theycanhidelossesorfutureproblemsfromfinancialstatementusers.Forexample,losses canbehidden by offsetting themagainstgains.Expectedfutureproblemsrelated tolosscon

3、tingenciescanbe hiddensimplybynotdisclosingthem.Thus,ifdisclosureisincomplete,eventheapplicationofsimilarmeasurementprinciples will lead to incorrect comparisons.Clearly, international accounting convergence requires thatbothmeasurement anddisclosure be made comparable.2. The term convergence is ass

4、ociated with the International Accounting StandardsBoard.Beforethe IASB,harmonizationwas thecommonlyusedterm.Harmonization means that standards are compatible; they do not contain conflicts.Harmonization was generallytakento mean theeliminationof differencesinexistingaccountingstandards,inother word

5、s,findingacommon groundamongexisting standards. Convergence means the gradual elimination of differences innational and international accounting standards. Thus, the terms harmonizationand convergence arecloselyaligned.However,convergencemightalso involvecoming up with a new accounting treatment not

6、 in any current standards.3.a.Reciprocity,ormutualrecognition,existswhen regulatorsoutsideofthehome countryaccepta foreignfirm s financialsta tementsbasedonthehomecountry s principles, or perhaps IFRS. For example, the London Stock Exchangeaccepts U.S. GAAP-based financial statements in filings made

7、 by non-U.K. foreigncompanies.Reciprocitydoesnotincreasecross-countrycomparabilityoffinancial statements, and it can create an unlevel playing field in that foreigncompanies maybe allowedto apply standardsthat arelessrigorousthanthoseused by domestic companies.b. With reconciliation, foreign firms c

8、an prepare financial statements using theaccounting standardsoftheirhomecountryorIFRS,butalso mustprovide areconciliationbetweenaccountingmeasures(suchasnetincomeand.專業(yè).整理.下載可編輯shareholders equity) of the home country and the country where the financialstatementsarebeingfiled.Reconciliationsare less

9、costlythan preparing afull set of financial statements under a different set of accounting principles,but provide only a summary, not the full picture of the enterprise.c. Internationalstandardsarearesultofeitherinternationalorpoliticalagreement,orvoluntary(orprofessionallyencouraged)compliance.When

10、accountingstandardsareappliedthroughpolitical,legal,orregulatoryprocedures,statutoryrulestypicallygoverntheprocess.Allotherinternational standards efforts in accounting are voluntary in nature.專業(yè).整理.下載可編輯4.KeyrationalessupportingthedevelopmentandwidespreadapplicationofIFRSinclude:a.Agrowingbodyofevi

11、denceindicatesthatthegoalofinternationalconvergence of accounting, disclosure and auditing has been widely accepted.b. All dimensions of accounting are becoming converged worldwide.c. Increasing numbers of highly credible organizations strongly support the goalsof the IASB.d.Nationaldifferencesinthe

12、underlyingfactorsthatleadtovariationinaccounting, disclosure, and auditing practices are narrowing as capital and product markets become more international.e.Internationalstandardswillimprovethecomparabilityofinternationalfinancial information.f.Time and money willbe savedon internationalconsolidati

13、ons,thecomponentsof which now are subject to different national laws and practices.g.Theremay be a tendencyforaccountingstandardsthroughouttheworldtoberaised to the highest possible level.h. Widespread application of IFRS might also result in:? Improved managerial decision making within multinationa

14、l enterprises.? Improved allocations of corporate investment money worldwide.? Better international understandability of financial statements.?Costreductionsinaccountinginformationprocessingandfinancialdisclosure costs for multinational enterprises.? Greater international credibility for published f

15、inancial statements.專業(yè).整理.下載可編輯5.Key rationales against the development and widespread application of IFRS include:a.Accountinghasbuilt-inflexibility.Itsabilitytoadapttowidelydifferent situations is one of its most important features. Critics doubt that international standards can be flexible enough

16、 to handle differencesin national backgrounds, traditions, and economic environments, and may bea politically unacceptable challenge to sovereignty.b.It is claimed that international accounting standard setting is a tactic ofthelargeinternationalaccountingservicefirmstoexpandtheirmarketshare.c. Inte

17、rnational standards may create standards overload for companies that do business internationally.d.Nationalpoliticalconcernsfrequentlyintrudeonaccountingstandards.Internationalpoliticalinfluenceswouldcompromiseinternationalaccounting standards.e.Internationalstandardsarenotsuitableforsmallandmedium-

18、sizedcompanies, particularly unlisted ones with no public accountability.f.Risksofmisinformationuniformstandardsmay givetheappearanceofsimilarities when in fact countries and companies may be highly dissimilar.g.Politicalcostsofthenecessaryinternationaltreatiesonfinancialaccounting and reporting whi

19、ch would have to be negotiated to enforce the use of IFRS.6.Evidence indicating wide acceptance of IFRS around the world:a.Growing numbers of companies are adopting IFRS voluntarily and refer to their use of IFRS in their annual reports.b. Dozens of countries base their national accounting standards

20、 on IFRS.c. Some 7,000 EU listed companies now use IFRS in their consolidated financialstatements.d.Many international organizations, such as IOSCO, endorse the use of IFRS.e.IFRS areusedasan internationalbenchmark inmany majorindustrializedcountries.f. IFRS are accepted by many stock exchanges and

21、securities regulators.g. IFRS are recognized by the European Commission (EC) and other supranational bodies.h. Norwalk Agreement committed FASB and IASB to convergence.7. The InternationalAccountingStandards Board isoverseenby theInternationalAccounting Standards Committee, consisting of 22 trustees

22、: six from North America,sixfromEurope,sixfromtheAsia-Pacificregion,andfourfromanyarea.Thetrusteesappointthemembersof theIASB.TheIASBreceivesadvicefromtheStandards Advisory Council on its agenda and priorities. The SAC consists of around30members appointedbytheIASCtrusteesandtheyrepresentadiversityo

23、fgeographic and professional backgrounds.專業(yè).整理.下載可編輯The IASB consists of 14 members, 12 full-time and two part-time. It follows a dueprocess in setting accounting standards. For each standard, the board normally publishes a discussion paper that sets out the various possible requirements for thestan

24、dard and the arguments for and against each one. Later, the board publishes an exposure draft for public comment, and it then examines the arguments put forward in the comment process. A final standard is issued when nine of the 14 board members have voted in its favor.8.Accounting harmonization in

25、the EU is just one element of the overall project of harmonizing the legal and economic systems of the member states, and is part of the process of harmonizing company law.TheFourthDirectiveillustratestheconceptofharmonization,and specifiesaccounting measurement(valuation) and disclosure requirement

26、s. It provides formatrules for the balance sheet and the profit and loss account. The true and fair viewistheoverridingrequirementandholdsforfootnotedisclosuresaswellas thefinancialstatements.TheFourthDirectivealsosetsouttherequirementsforfinancial statement audits.TheSeventhDirectiveaddressesconsol

27、idatedfinancialstatements.Itrequiresconsolidationsforgroupsofcompanies aboveacertainsize,specifiesdisclosuresandnotes,andrequiresadirectors report.When itwasissuedin1983,consolidated financial statements were the exception rather than the rule in Europe.The Eighth Directive addressed various aspects

28、 of the qualifications of professionals authorized to carry out legally required (statutory) audits. Now referred to as the Statutory Audit Directive, it was substantially amended in 2006. The new directive tightens oversight of the audit profession and has standards for, among other points, auditor

29、 appointment and rotation, and continuing professional education.The EU abandoned its approach to harmonization to one favoring the IASB for practicalandpoliticalreasons.TheFourthand SeventhDirectiveswere incompleteandessentially remained as they were issued. Improvements to them proved difficult to

30、achieve and the directives did not achieve the comparability expected. Some saw aset of Europe-widestandardsasanunnecessaryredundancygiventheemergenceofcomprehensiveIFRS.OtherssawU.S.GAAP asarivaltoIFRS.TheEUcannotinfluence U.S. GAAP, but can influence IFRS. By putting its weight behind the IASB,the

31、 EU could serve as a counterweight to U.S. GAAP.9.International accounting harmonization/convergence should address many, if not most,investor concerns about cross-national differences in accounting practices. The keyissuehereiscomparabilityinvestorswanttomake “applestoapples ”comparisonsoffinancial

32、statementsofcompaniesfromcountriesaround theworld.However, convergedstandardsareonly thebeginning.Standardsmustalsobe.專業(yè).整理.下載可編輯comparablyappliedand theymust be rigorouslyenforced.The financialstatementsmust also be similarly audited to ensure comparable reliability.10.Convergence of auditing stand

33、ards will help ensure that audit quality will reachacceptable levels worldwide. Auditing convergence may be less difficult to achieve than accounting convergence because auditing is more technically oriented and thereis wider agreement as to what constitutes best practices in auditing than there is

34、for accounting principles.IFAC is a worldwide organization of over 160 member organizations in 120 countries.Itsmissionincludesestablishingand promotingadherencetohigh-qualityauditingandotherprofessionalstandards,andfurtheringtheinternationalconvergenceofsuchstandards.Itsworkisdonethroughstandardset

35、tingboardsandstandingcommittees. Among its standard setting boards are:? International Accounting Education Standards Board? International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board? International Ethics Standards Board for AccountantsItsworkspanstheentirearrayofprofessionalresponsibilitiesofauditorsand

36、includesstandardscoveringprofessionaleducation,the conductof the audit,andprofessional ethics.11.IOSCO consists of securities regulators from more than 100 countries. Together,IOSCO membersareresponsibleforregulatingmorethan90percentof globalsecuritiesmarkets.Oneof IOSCOsobjectivesispromoting “highs

37、tandardsofregulationinorderto maintainjust,ef ficient,andsoundmarkets. ”IOSCO hasworked extensively on international disclosure and accounting standards to facilitatethe ability of companies to raise capital efficiently in global securities markets.Ithasa technicalcommitteewhosesole focusismultinati

38、onaldisclosureandaccounting. Model disclosure standards were published in 1998 and 2002.IOSCOs disclosure harmonization work is important because it has established a set of high quality disclosure standards, globally recognized, that serves as a model fornations around the world as they develop nat

39、ional requirements for cross-border offerings and initial listings.12.The UN and OECD now play supporting roles in harmonizing accounting and auditingstandards. The IASB and IFAC are now the clear leaders in this endeavor, but in the1970s and 1980s, both the UN and OECD were potential rivals. Most o

40、f the effort ofthe UN andOECD isdirectedtowardprovidingtechnicalaccountingassistancetodevelopingcountries.For example, theUN hasfocused much attentionon Russiaandcountries of the former Soviet bloc, and on African countries.專業(yè).整理.下載可編輯Exercises1.One ofthemainproblemswithmutualrecognition(orreciproci

41、ty)isthatitactually may make financial statements within the home market noncomparable. If manydifferent accounting standards are acceptable, then companies domiciled in countrieswithrigorousstandards(suchasthe UnitedStates)wouldbeat adisadvantagetocompanieswhose home countrystandardsarenotasstringe

42、nt,butstillwouldbeacceptable. Investors also would face the difficult task of having to master manysetsofaccountingprinciplesin ordertobeableto understandtheassociatedfinancial statements.The U.S. SEC considers reconciliation to be a cost-effective means to allow foreignfirmstoliston adomesticexchan

43、ge.Withreconciliation,differencesbetweenaccountingstandardsareidentifiedandquantifiedwithouttheneedtoprepareasecondsetoffinancialstatements.However,significantdifferencesbetweendomestic and foreign accounting principles can increase the burdens associated withreconciliation, and reconciliations do n

44、ot provide a full picture of the enterpriseas would result from a second set of financial statements.TheuseofInternationalFinancialReportingStandardswouldprovidemanybenefitsfor cross-border listings. Companies would have to provide only one set of financialstatementsforallnondomesticcapitalmarkets,a

45、ndinvestorswouldhave tobefamiliarwithonlyonesetofaccountingprinciplestoproperlyunderstandandinterpretnondomesticfinancialstatements.However,aswithreconciliation,domestic companies required to comply with domestic standards still would compete forcapital with nondomestic companies that would be requi

46、red to comply with a different(and possibly less stringent) standard.Preferred approaches from perspectives of different groups:a.Investorsmightpreferinternationalstandards,astheywouldincreasetheeaseinunderstandinginformationfromnondomesticcompanies.Knowledge ofonlyonesetofstandardswouldberequiredto

47、understandallnondomesticstatements. However, there is also a case for reconciliation, which presentsinan economicalmanner thesignificantdifferencesbetweennondomesticanddomesticfinancialstatementsand doesnotrequireinvestorstobe familiarwith any set of accounting standards other than the home country.

48、b.Company management might prefer mutual recognition, as it does not require acompany toprepareanyadditionalinformationandrequiresnoadditionalexpenseortimecommitments.However,companiesinsome countriesmightadoptIFRSvoluntarilytoincreasetheircredibilitywithinvestorsandincrease the overall quality of their financial reporting.c. Regulatory authorities might prefer reconciliation as it places the burden on companies yet provides adequate disclosure and investor protection.專業(yè).整理.下載可