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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the controversial repeal of legislation requiring UK companies to disclose an Operating and Financial Review (OFR). After a lengthy period of consultation and the preparation of a reporting standard, legislation was passed in March 2005 requiring UK listed companies to disclose a separate statement of management commentary, an OFR. In November 2005 the Chancellor unexpectedly and controversially announced the repeal of the OFR during a speech to the largest business lobbying group in the UK.

The analysis draws upon internal, private governmental documents prepared by the Treasury ministry to brief the Chancellor, publicly disclosed as a result of a legal challenge against the repeal decision.

The paper describes how Treasury officials were motivated to seek deregulatory opportunities in order to gain political support for their head, Prime Minister-in-waiting, Gordon Brown. The analysis reveals how the repeal of the OFR was identified as an example of corporate deregulation, and how this perception proved to be misplaced following the reaction to the repeal decision which led to the government reinstating many OFR requirements in an enhanced Business Review in 2006.

The paper draws on the conception of “3-D” power to analyse how a political ideology prevalent in the pre-financial crisis environment came to influence accounting technology with unexpected consequences. Using data rarely disclosed in the public domain, it illuminates the “black boxed” processes underlying regulatory decision making. The paper details how the Treasury were politically motivated to influence corporate reporting policy in the absence of concerted political lobbying, and why this episode of government intervention led to an unanticipated regulatory outcome.

The efficacy of the “rational” corporatist regulatory framework of Philippine financial reporting and, in particular, accounting has generally been questioned. We will show that the regulation of accounting in the Philippines is not corporatist at all in its implementation. A “traditionalist”/familial culture mediates the “rationalist”/legalistic regulatory process of Philippine accounting regulation. Two cases of apparent ethical misconduct in the practice of public accounting are examined to illustrate the process of mediation.

It is well known that once regulatory bodies adopt a financial reporting paradigm, it becomes the guiding principle for accounting regulation. This paradigm itself in the field of accounting represents the starting point of the research. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the specific case of the Czech Republic and Romania, namely on aspects concerning regulations in the field of financial instruments.

The authors have approached an a priori economic analysis of national regulations in correlation with international standards inferences. In doing so, they have identified several key issues, which need to be discussed when thoroughly analyzing accounting regulations for financial instruments. Furthermore, the authors have used statistical indicators in order to determine the degree of similarities and dissimilarities between the two national accounting systems and also in correspondence with the international referential.

The results of the performed analysis show a high level of similarities between the two national set of GAAPs and IFRS/IAS, and also among the two of them, still both of them being closer to the international referential than to each other. Research limitations/implications – The paper only approaches formal harmonization in the area of reporting for financial instruments. Moreover, those issues analyzed through the regulations' perspective need to be closely quantified in matters of their actual implementation, pertinent conclusions and correlations being then made regarding the status of each country within the global capital market.

The paper represents a first step within the intended scientific démarche, a priori research having the attribute of generating feedback on hypothetical reporting alternatives prior to implementation.

This parallel analysis performed on the two national accounting systems from the financial instruments' point of view finds results, which are explained through the bonding theory.

The purpose of this paper is to examine charity regulatory systems, including accounting standard setting, across five jurisdictions in varying stages of adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, and identifies the challenges of this process.

Using a regulatory space approach, this paper relies on publicly available archival evidence from charity regulators and accounting standard setters in five common‐law jurisdictions in advanced capitalist economies, all with vibrant charity sectors: the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The study reveals the importance of co‐operative interdependence and dialogue between charity regulators and accounting standard setters, indicating that jurisdictions with such inter‐relationships will better manage the transition to IFRS. It also highlights the need for those jurisdictions with not‐for‐profit or charity‐specific accounting standards to re‐configure those provisions as IFRSs are adopted.

The study is limited to five jurisdictions, concentrating specifically on key charity regulators and accounting standard setters. Future research could widen the scope to other jurisdictions, or track changes in the jurisdictions longitudinally.

This paper provides a timely international perspective of charity regulation and accounting developments for regulators, accounting standard setters and charities, specifically of regulatory responses to IFRS adoption.

The paper contributes fresh insights into the dynamics of charity accounting regulation in an international context by using regulatory space as an organising framework. While accounting regulation literature provides a rich interpretation of regulatory issues within the accounting arena, little attention has been paid to charity accounting regulation.

In recent years in Australia, accounting regulations have been developed that require the adoption of commercial accounting and reporting practices by public‐sector organisations, including the recognition of cultural, heritage and scientific collections as assets by non‐profit cultural organisations. The regulations inappropriately apply traditional accounting concepts of accountability and performance, notwithstanding that the primary objectives of many of the organisations affected are not financial. This study examines how this was able to occur within the ideas outlined in Douglas’s (1986) How Institutions Think. The study provides evidence to demonstrate that the development; promotion, and defense of the detailed accounting regulations were each constrained by institutional thinking and, as a result, only certain questions were asked and many problems and issues associated with the regulations were not addressed. Thus, it seeks to further our understanding of the nature and limits of change in accounting and the role of institutions in promoting and defending changes to accounting practice.

This paper proposes a framework to facilitate description of national financial accounting systems. Its first element, broad aims, identifies the fundamental purpose of national financial accounting systems as being to effect a macro‐user or micro‐user orientation. From this emerges the second element, institutional environment, which describes the nature of regimes put in place to effect regulation. This influences the third element, the specific accounting rules and practices adopted. Aspects of international practice relating to each of these three elements are illustrated. The pedagogical benefits of the framework are demonstrated. The standard vocabulary and the structured format of the framework is used to describe, in capsule form, the national financial accounting systems of Korea and Indonesia. The framework seems likely to enhance understanding of the similarities and differences in national financial accounting systems and to contribute useful insights to international accounting matters.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate stakeholders’ salience on accounting and in particular to assess the magnitude of state influence in Romania, an emerging context.

This research integrates stakeholders’ theory and an empirical approach based on a survey administrated to professional accountants as preparers of accounts on the financial reporting market.

The findings confirm the hypothesis of Mitchell et al. (1997) that the importance of stakeholders is high if attributes like power, legitimacy and claims urgency are perceived as current. In the Romanian emergent context, for the period 1991-2010, a relatively strong tax-accounting linkage is still identified according to Lamb et al.’s (1998) hierarchy. However, as compared to the absolute dominance observed for the early post-communist stage, the state holds the second position in terms of values of stakeholder attributes, after the shareholders.

An increased influence of the accounting bodies, academics and business representatives, who should communicate effectively and constructively with the public structures with respect to enforcement of accounting regulations and the type of organizations involved. The higher focus on IFRS in the EU and in Romania and the evolution of Romanian economic and legal structures lead to the reassessment of the usefulness of IFRS, at least in the case of certain types of organizations. This is also due to the fact that the new IASB framework takes into consideration other types of stakeholders than (actual) shareholders along with the providers of finance from the entity and stewardship perspective.

This paper argues that one of the factors of state influence in accounting is the tax-accounting linkage who is still occurs in this context in present. Also, refers to another factor that caused the watering down of the state’ position, namely, the growing impact of IFRS on Romanian financial reporting.

The UK regime for financial reporting and auditing was radically altered in 1990 and 1991 by two separate developments. When removing sole responsibility for setting accounting standards from the accounting profession, the opportunity was taken to establish a monitoring body, the Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP), to oversee compliance with company law and accounting standards, and with powers to apply to the courts for rectification. In addition, a new regulatory system for auditors was set up. This paper considers the problems arising between the regulatory responsibilities of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and FRRP. In 50 cases (up to September 1999) FRRP found defects in accounts, 49 of which were audited by firms regulated by ICAEW, but no disciplinary action was taken by ICAEW until 1999. The way in which the new audit regulations were grafted onto the existing ICAEW disciplinary regime is considered, and the anomalies arising from that explored. The cases resulting in ICAEW's disciplinary action are compared with the other cases together with some evidence from finance directors and audit partners with experience of dealing both with FRRP and an ICAEW disciplinary investigation. The relevant theories relating to professional bodies and regulation are also reviewed. Finally, the authors review the problems identified in this study and make suggestions as to how they may be addressed.

The authors aim to analyze whether the adoption of IFRS accounting standards in Chilean capital markets affects the earnings conservatism of the firms that adopt them.

Using a conditional earnings conservatism model, the authors compare the conservatism of the firms by periods of using or not using IFRS standards for a sample of 95 listed Chilean firms between 1999 and 2010.

The authors’ results show that conditional earnings conservatism is more pronounced under IFRS standards and suggest that the use of IFRS improves the relevance and reliability of the reported accounting information.

The authors provide new evidence from a Latin‐American emerging market and they shed some light on the potential effect of IFRS implementation for several Latin‐American countries that are in the on‐going process of convergence.

Este artículo analiza si la adopción de las normas internacionales de información financiera (NIIF o IFRS) en el mercado de capitales chileno afecta el conservadurismo de las utilidades de las empresas que las adoptan.

Utilizando un modelo de conservadurismo condicional de las utilidades, se compara el conservadurismo de las empresas pre y post adopción de las normas IFRS para una muestra de 95 empresas que cotizan en el mercado de capitales chileno para el período entre 1999 y 2010.

Los resultados obtenidos evidencian que el conservadurismo condicional en las utilidades es más pronunciado bajo la normativa IFRS y sugieren que el uso de IFRS mejora la relevancia y confiabilidad de la información contable reportada.

Se provee nueva evidencia para una economía emergente y algunas luces acerca del efecto potencial que el proceso de convergencia contable puede tener sobre la calidad de la información financiera para algunos países latinoamericanos.

The last four decades have seen the rise of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) as the core locus of transnational accounting regulation. Initial steps of associational cooperation were superseded by establishing a standard setting organization that heavily draws on consultation procedures. The purpose of this paper is to focus on recent changes in governance and accountability of IASB in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Emphasis is given to the organizational configuration, the ambivalence of consultation procedures and reactions to mounting criticism after the crisis. The paper proposes that IASB is the heart of a new transnational regulatory constellation in accounting.

The material and analysis presented in the paper derives from an extensive review of official reports, consultation documents and related responses and a range of additional information available on IASB's web page.

The paper analyzes how IASB uses legitimation strategies to defend its position as a transnational standard setter. From analysis of recent changes, the paper reveals a growing reliance on – and domination through – consultation procedures. The paper also shows the IASB’S swift action to counter substantial criticism emerging with the financial crisis.

By highlighting developments surrounding IASB, its governance structure and the emphasis on consultation, the paper establishes the importance for public policy of further study and debate the operation of IASB. It could also contribute to re-politicize accounting regulation at the transnational level.

IASB is an integral player in global financial governance processes and is only recently receiving substantial academic accounting research. This paper seeks to provide an introduction and critical account of the organization's development.