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The purpose of this paper is to chart, analyse and attempt to explain, the changes in the scope of consolidation over the last century in national and transnational regulations. It first concentrates on the four countries which have been the main drivers of change (the USA, the UK, Germany and France) and then on the transnational regulations of the EU and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). This issue is of great topical importance (e.g. the IASB's standard on consolidation of 2011).

The author synthesises the literature and then analyses the extensive set of accounting requirements over a century from the four countries, the EU and the international standard setters. Three theoretical perspectives (transnational operations, financing and diffusion of ideas) are assessed as explanations for the developments.

Definitions of subsidiary have ranged from the simple to the byzantine, including poor use of such words as “control” and “power”. Over time, there have been many types of exclusion from consolidation (e.g. based on lack of ownership, lack of control, dissimilarity or foreignness), but the scope has gradually widened. In terms of the conventional understanding of international accounting differences, the US concentration on ownership and the German concentration on control are unexpected. However, the theoretical perspectives allow an explanation, largely in terms of financing and diffusion of ideas rather than transnational operations.

Policy implications concern the improvement in the use of such terms as “control” and “power”. Suggestions are made for clarifying the scope of consolidation.

This is the first paper to analyse the scope of consolidation over a century up to the present on a transnational basis, and the first to seek to explain the developments in a theoretical context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between the use of a computerised learning tool (specifically designed to teach consolidation accounting) and student performance in the final examination of an undergraduate accounting unit on Corporate Accounting.

A regression model was developed to analyse 1,103 observations of assignment and examination scores, collected over three semesters, to test the central proposition that computer assisted learning enhances student learning outcomes and performance in the exam.

The results show a positive and significant relationship between the computerised accounting assignment on consolidated accounting (linked to usage of the computerised tool) and the consolidation question in the final examination. The findings suggest that the computerised consolidation accounting package (CCAP) assists students to understand the concepts underpinning consolidation accounting.

The data were collected from a single institution, which may not represent the population of accounting students. Due to ethical obligations, the study lacked a control group that would have allowed meaningful comparison and assessment of student performance. Furthermore, whilst the findings in this study were able to demonstrate a positive association between the CCAP and exam performance, it is unable to determine the quality and depth of the learning experience from using the CCAP.

The present study found that a CCAP and its usage has the potential to positively impact student performance on assessment tasks on subject matter similar to concepts contained the computer package. Such findings may encourage instructors to seek ways of incorporating learning technologies in the pedagogical design.

This is believed to be one the few papers that has exclusively studied the impact of a specific CCAP and a specific segment in accounting education (consolidation accounting) using direct measures, CCAP assignment score and the final examination score for a question dedicated to consolidation accounting.

The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the adoption status of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) within Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member states at the country level and highlight the main factors impeding the process of accounting harmonisation.

This study uses factor analysis (FA) to assess the status of IPSAS adoption as the weighted average of the adoption levels of three categories: central government, sub-national governments, and country-level consolidation. Based on this assessment, the sample is classified into three levels of IPSAS adoption: high, medium, and low.

The findings suggest a slow trend towards accounting harmonisation and an increasing influence of IPSAS. However, evidence also suggests significant limitations in the adoption of the standards, mainly attributed to national adaptations, which undermine the ongoing efforts for standardisation.

This study provides an integrated view of IPSAS adoption at the country level and sheds light on a different aspect of the international harmonisation process, which is missing from the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the adoption of IFRS 10 and IFRS 11 affected consolidated financial statements. Specifically, the paper explores whether entities adopted mandatorily or voluntarily both IFRS, whether expressly declared effects, whether considered those effects as material and whether those effects had impacts on selected items of financial statements and on selected financial ratios.

The research is an exploratory study using public entities from Germany, France and the UK. The majority of the data is manually collected from financial statements.

The results suggest that the adoption of the new IFRS 10 affected the composition of a large number of entity groups but that their financial information and economic-financial indicators do not present material changes. There is also evidence of a large and material impact on the changes in the classification and accounting for interests in arrangements under joint control through the new IFRS 11. The evidence thus suggests unequal effects of the adoption of IFRS 10 and IFRS 11 on the proportion of entities declaring materiality of effects, on the quantitative effects on selected items of financial statements, and on financial ratios. A comparison between the pre-adoption and post-adoption periods reveals that the majority of the effects are driven by the adoption of IFRS 11.

As far as is known this exploratory paper is the first presenting the effectiveness of adopting the most important standards under the “consolidation package” and opens an avenue for future research by academics, for future post-implementation reviews by IASB, and for analysis of peer reviews between accounting practitioners.

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of accounting for complex organizational forms on data collection with the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS).

This research reviews the literature from accounting theory along with the goals of data collection for policy analysis to draw conclusions about the applicability of accounting pronouncements.

Historically, the financial data collected in ARMS were based on financial accounting standards which were adequate for most purposes. However, this study develops the fact that many of these financial accounting standards were created to provide information for equity market transactions. The complexities of accounting for consolidations will provide valuable information, but implementing these standards will require accounting sophistication that is not prevalent in agriculture.

By drawing accounting theory together with the targeted use of data, this study offers guidelines to improve the data quality for a growing complex US agriculture.

This paper aims to research the reforms toward International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) implementation and the perceptions about the use and usefulness of accounting information in the context of local government in the Iberian Peninsula. The paper focuses on the perspective of chief financial officers (CFOs).

The paper uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. Beyond the study of the context of the reform in both countries through the consultation of legislation and official documents, the authors collected primary data through a survey addressed to the local CFO to catch both countries' perceptions and beliefs toward the topic under research.

The authors' findings evidence that both countries have made strong efforts to adapt IPSAS to both countries' national standards. The coercive and mimetic isomorphism and the private accounting normative were important determinants in the reform. Looking at perceptions, budget information continues to be perceived as the king information for public management and decision-making. In a comparative way, the Portuguese CFO seems to be more optimistic concerning the use and usefulness of the new accounting system. The strong orientation of CFO to cash-basis and budgeting information is an important explanation of the lower use and usefulness, essentially in the Spanish context. The regression results show that individual perceptions and beliefs on the accounting reform influence the opinion about the usefulness and use of financial information.

The use of the survey method has some limitations very discussed in the literature that are also applied in this study.

The paper has the potential to contribute to the academic, political and practitioner discussion of the core purposes of financial accounting information in the public sector and financial accounting information's impacts on the European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS) framework.

The recent adoption of the new accounting system in local governments of both contexts contributes to knowledge on the public sector accounting reforms toward the transition to accrual accounting and the IPSAS. The innovative character of the paper contributes to better clarify how the perceptions of the accounting reform influence the usage level of public financial information.

This paper aims to evaluate responses to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board’s proposed conceptual framework for evidence of support of new public management doctrines by key stakeholders, namely, accounting professionals, government agencies and international bodies.

The research uses a content analysis of response letters to select phases of the conceptual framework project to identify themes/principles pointing to acceptance or rejection of new public management principles by stakeholders.

Accounting professionals tend to support proposals that are consistent with principles of new public management providing evidence of normative and mimetic isomorphic pressure to align public and private sector accounting practices. Some government agencies and international organisations appear to have conformed but the majority resist efforts to incorporate a new public management discourse in public sector accounting.

The study is based on a content analysis of publically available response letters. It does not engage directly with respondents. In addition, not all stakeholders have submitted an equal number of response letters, with the result that it was not possible to compare responses from the developed and developing world or according to variations in legal and governance systems.

The study provides empirical evidence of different perspectives of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board’s conceptual framework project, which have not been considered explicitly by the previous research. The findings support the view that the accounting profession, as an integral part of the capital market system, exerts pressure to drive standardisation of financialised accounting practices. In contrast, government agencies support accounting systems aligned with conventional accountability principles aligned with jurisdiction-specific contexts. The interaction of these opposing perspectives is a primary determinant of change in accounting practice in the public sector space.

The purpose of this paper is to deal with the evolution of Polish financial reporting principles in its historical context, this providing the reader with basic understanding of what has been influencing the shape of Polish accounting rules and how they evolved from the communist times until the accession of Poland to the European Union. This in turn should help in understanding the way in which Polish corporate governance system has evolved.

The approach taken is a general review and analysis of the issues surrounding Polish accounting rules transition.

Throughout the transition period Polish financial reporting principles managed to successfully convert from socialistic to financial‐market oriented thus providing both financial managers and investors with a powerful governance tool.

Full understanding of the development of modern financial reporting principles, especially in the transition/emerging economies, is not possible without sound knowledge of the socio‐economic context of their formation.

Both business practitioners interested in collaboration with companies from Poland (or another transition country) as well as academics working on financial reporting/management issues in international setting should find the paper useful.

Financial accounting necessarily depends on an entity assumption that shapes the way it recognizes and accounts for organizational exchanges with social environments. It thereby constructs boundaries and frames permeability in terms of what counts, is accounted for, as being inside and outside of the organization. Yet there are different possible entity concepts reflecting different values about the relationship between the organizational entity and society. This essay considers four problem areas in which these values and the entity–society relationship are at stake within financial accounting: the problem of control within group accounting; accounting for externalities; the economization of public organizations; and the construction of organizational actorhood. These four problematics suggest that financial accounting, its boundary determining assumptions, and the forms of organizational permeability it permits are deeply intertwined and subject to continuous pressure for change.