The United States has a long history of doing things differently than other countries. Its accounting standards are no different; to date, it continues to use its own Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and have yet to converge to the International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as set by the International Accounting Standards Board. In 2008, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") Chairman Christopher Cox published a press release in which the SEC published for public comment a roadmap towards convergence by 2014. However, in subsequent years, Memorandum of Understandings published by the IASB and the United States' Financial Accounting Standards Boards ("FASB") pushed back the date of implementation at each publication. As a result, the convergence efforts have been stalling greatly. It is very unlikely that the U.S. will ever completely converge to IFRS as the financial costs and obstacles to convergence are not insignificant. Not only will the costs of implication be great, but also the costs of training and education of auditors and accountants. It is not feasible for the U.S. to converge with IFRS in the near future, as the benefits most countries obtain through convergence such as increased quality of financial statements will not be realized. As such, this paper seeks to prove why IFRS convergence will not be realized in the United States.

In the last 15 years it has been widely debated whether or not the United States should adopt IFRS. Convergence efforts in the 21st century have limited the distinctions between U.S. GAAP and IFRS, but significant differences still exist. This paper takes an in-depth look at the most important remaining differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS, and examines both sides of the argument on adoption. Finally, I conclude that the U.S. should continue to use and refine its own standards.

Abstract   Title:                               Goodwill – differences and similarities between how IFRS and U.S. GAAP treats goodwill   Level:                              One year master, 15 credits   Author:                           Oscar Larsen and Thomas Karlsson   Supervisor:                     Leif Carlsson   Examiner:                      Cecilia Lindh   Year of publication:      2011   The main issue:              What are the differences and similarities of the treatment of goodwill between the U.S. GAAP and IFRS? What can the transition from U.S. GAAP to IFRS imply to companies regarding goodwill?   Aim:                                The aim with this thesis is to treat differences and similarities between U.S. GAAP and IFRS regarding how goodwill is generated and distributed in a business combination and also how the process of an impairment test of goodwill is carried through. The aim is further to treat possible effects that a transition may imply to companies regarding goodwill.   Method:                          In this study a qualitative research method has been used where the gathered information has been collected from interviews that has been analyzed and compared with the theoretical studies.   Conclusion:                    Differences described in theory doesn’t have to be confirmed with practices though it depends on how different companies in different industries interpret and apply these regulations   Keywords:                      Goodwill, IFRS, U.S. GAAP, impairment, business combination

The purpose of this thesis is to examine in depth the process of U.S. GAAP convergence to IFRS. The thesis begins by providing the history of convergence, which include all the measures that have led to the FASB’s and IASB efforts today. Some specific accounting issues that the FASB and IASB are working on in their joint projects to eliminate the differences are explored. The issues that the FASB and IASB need to cover in order to complete their efforts laid out in the Memorandum of Understanding, and even possibly adopting IFRS, are covered next. The risk implications if the United States were to adopt IFRS as it stands today are examined. There are numerous short-term risks if the U.S. adopts IFRS immediately, many of which include increased expenses for companies and more room for managerial manipulation of earnings. After disclosing the short-term risks, the long-term benefits of adopting IFRS, which include decreased costs from consolidation and increased comparability for users of financial statements, are highlighted. The thesis then covers the opinions submitted to the SEC about convergence or endorsement of IFRS. The conclusion includes interviews of three Deloitte professionals on their opinions of convergence, and my views based on my research.

In this dissertation, I examine the changes to the nature of the accounting paradigms of U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) over the course of the U.S. GAAP and IFRS convergence project. I further examine whether the changes to the nature of IFRS following convergence impacts the financial reporting quality. The motivation for this study is to provide an initial review of the progress of the convergence process between U.S. GAAP and IFRS that aims to converge both sets of standards towards more principles-based paradigms. The ultimate goal of the convergence process was the development of globally recognized high quality financial reporting standards (FASB, 2002) and the development of principles-based accounting standards was identified as an essential component of such a goal. Extant literature and professional practice agree that U.S. GAAP is more rules-based whereas IFRS is more principles-based. Thus, both the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) agreed that the convergence process would be an ideal vehicle to converge both sets of standards towards more principles-based paradigm. I document that over the course of the convergence project, the underlying accounting paradigm of U.S. GAAP has remained consistent whereas the accounting paradigm of IFRS has become more rules-based. Amendments to existing International Standards and newer standards added over the course of the convergence have moved IFRS towards a more rules-based nature which was not the intended outcome of the convergence process. I further examine if the changes in rules vs. principles-based nature of IFRS has impacted the accounting quality. Using a firm level instrument developed in Folsom et al. (2016) that measures the extent to which firms rely on principles-vs –rules-based accounting, standards I find a relation between firm reliance on principles-based standards and earnings persistence. I also find an association between firm reliance on principles-based standards and earnings ability to predict future cash flows as well as concurrent returns. More, importantly the results of my study provide initial evidence that these associations are significantly manifested in the post-convergence period.

Master’s thesis deals with the analysis of the Czech modification of accounting, it’s setting into the context of the European accounting and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles – U.S. GAAP. The aim of the thesis is to demonstrate the differences in accounting practices and the overall concept of accounting. It also assesses the measure of harmonization of accounting required for the objectivity of investor’s decision.

The concept of control is an important determinant of consolidated financial statements. Group of economically related entities and its consolidated financial statements are identified by control concept. Conception of control lies in the model of determination of entities controlled. The evolution of control concept points out, that some entities have not always been integrated in the group or have not been considered controlled. Information value of consolidated financial statements resulting from the control concept is directly influenced by this non-integration represented e.g. by off-balance sheet accounting and Special Purpose Entities. Thesis examines and analyzes present and previous models of control concept of U.S. GAAP, IAS/IFRS and its converged principles.

U.S. GAAP and the software industry in particular, are on the verge of a major alteration in revenue-recognition accounting standards. The IASB-FASB joint revenue-recognition project is due to be finalized over the next year with the result being a shift from a rules-based set of accounting standards to a principles-based standard. The purpose of this research is to examine financial statement preparers' software revenue-recognition decisions under a principles-based accounting standard compared to a rules-based accounting standard both with and without a personal incentive to maximize revenue. The 2 X 2 between-subjects experiment examines the revenue-recognition judgments and decisions of financial statement preparers involved in applying rules-based standards (U.S. GAAP) and a principles-based standard (IASB-FASB Exposure Draft: Revenue from Contracts with Customers) with and without a personal incentive to maximize revenue. The study included 127 experienced financial statement preparers with an average of 20 years of experience and 82% at a manager/director level or above. The results indicate financial statement preparers applying rules-based standards in a revenue-recognition scenario provide less accurate revenue decisions than when applying a principles-based standard. Moreover, the results did not show that a personal incentive influenced the financial statement preparers in their revenue-recognition decisions. Surprisingly, in the rules-based and principles-based scenarios where a personal incentive was not present, the arithmetic mean recommended revenue amounts were higher. In providing the amount of judgment required to determine the revenue to be recognized, there was not a statistically significant difference in the amount of judgment required between subjects applying rules-based standards and subjects applying principles-based standards. The arithmetic means for rules-based subjects and principles-based indicated some judgment however not significant judgment was required. This is interesting to note as so few subjects correctly answered the revenue amount and neglected to fully apply the guidance.

This thesis deals with the compilation and comparison of financial statements in accordance with U.S. accounting principles and U.S. GAAP currently valid law on accounting in the Czech Republic. The aim is to characterize the balance sheet and income statement under both systems show the procedure of reporting the selected firm and preparing proposals or recommendations for optimizing the current situation

This thesis deals with the requirements of how to approach the issue of testing the value of assets in accounting and recognition of an impairment loss under IFRS and U.S. GAAP. The main objective was to create a comprehensive view of this specific area, eventually determine differences in accounting and reporting between IFRS and US GAAP. There is mostly characteristic of IAS 36 Impairment of Assets and SFAS 144 Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets, which specify when and how to entity test, identify, report impairment loss. The work also describes the basics of valuation of assets, mainly deals with the measurement by using historical cost and fair value.