Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of differences between revised IASC standards (extant in 1994) and U.S. GAAP. With the assistance of Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P., the author restated the group accounts of a sample of eight companies in a variety of industries: six Continental European companies and two companies based in Australia and New Zealand. The companies' annual reports for 1992 or 1993, as supplemented by research conducted by the companies themselves, were used to construct reconciliation tables between the revised IASC standards and U.S. GAAP. Harris concludes: "The analysis demonstrates that companies that comply with the revised IAS provide accounting measures that are essentially consistent with US-GAAP, and, where they differ, it seems difficult to argue that use of IAS will compromise the relevance of the data" (p. 2). Two key areas of difference were accounting for business combinations and foreign currency translation.

Citation

Harris, Trevor. International Accounting Standards versus U.S.-GAAP: Empirical Evidence Based on Case Studies. South-Western, Ohio, 1995.

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