The Need for Harmonizing Accounting Standards

International capital markets demand financial statements that can be readily understood and compared irrespective of the country of origin of the companies concerned. Investors and their advisers, and financial analysts want financial statements that are comparable from country to country so that they can compare the financial statements of enterprises in various cities. Instead, they are often confused and even overwhelmed by the diversity of different national reporting requirements.
Several reasons exist for why there are differences in accounting standards among different countries.…