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This study investigates the perception of users of corporate annual reports about various aspects of accounting harmonization. To serve this purpose, a questionnaire was distributed to four user groups (investors, government officials, auditors and academics). The results of the analysis revealed that sharing the same language, as well as sharing similar economic and cultural features are the most important factors expected to positively affect the harmonization of accounting practices in the GCC countries. However, the most important factors expected to obstruct accounting harmonization practices across GCC countries are the lack of professional and legal requirements as well as enforcement problems. The outcome of the analysis also revealed that harmonization is expected to (1) improve comparison between companies, (2) increase usefulness of financial information to decision makers, and (3) ensure consistency in the use of accounting rules over time. It was also evident from the analysis that lack of harmonization is viewed as the most likely factor to prevent some investors from investing across the GCC countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of harmonization of consolidated auditors’ reports issued by the independent auditors of Islamic banks.

A statistical measurement of the homogenization of the consolidated auditors’ reports of Islamic banks. International and Islamic auditing standards on consolidated auditors’ reports are used as the control (ISA 700 and AAOIFI standard-IAS2).

The results show a lack of harmonization among the Islamic bank’s groups in several elements related to the form of the consolidated auditor’s report and in all elements related to the independent auditor’s report.

This paper provides new empirical evidence about the measurement of harmonization in the form and content of the consolidated auditors’ reports of Islamic banks groups. It discusses the level of compliance with the consolidated elements enumerated by the standards issued by the International Federation of Accountants and the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions.

This paper uses content analysis to compare International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)1 with the Local Accounting Standards (LAS) of South Africa (SA), Mauritius and Tanzania. It begins by identifying the equivalence of the local accounting standards of these three countries with IFRS and follows with a content analysis of the definition of terms, accounting treatment and disclosure requirements in the standards. The contents of these three items in each of these countries’ standards are compared with those in the IFRS. A score card is used to record the level of harmony between the LAS and IFRS of each country and between the LAS of each country. The score is compared by running statistical test of significant difference using Wilcoxon Matched Paired test. The paper reports that, except for Tanzania, the local accounting standards of the two other countries are more or less similar to IFRS. As regards the level of harmony between the local accounting standards and IFRS, the score card reveals that the accounting standards of SA are more in harmony with IFRS, followed by Mauritius. A lead table is produced at the end.

The study analyses de jure disclosure harmony between Australia and Singapore by examining selected disclosure requirements from the statutes, stock exchange listing rules and five accounting standards. Empirical evidence as to Australian and Singaporean companies' de facto disclosure is provided. Two disclosure indices, specifically the no‐violation‐for‐non‐disclosure (NVND) index and the violation‐for‐non‐disclosure (VND), were used to assess the extent of company's disclosure of the selected requirements contained within their respective country's rules.

This paper aims to examine whether the level of harmonization of accounting measurement practices in three South Asian countries – Bangladesh, India and Pakistan – has improved since 1998 as a result of the changes, in recent years, globally in accounting measurement practices due to the substantial efforts of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). South Asian countries have taken a number of steps and made changes in accounting regulations to support the IASB’s harmonization programme.

In all, 370 non-financial companies for the financial years 1997-1998 and 2007-2008 were used, and consistent with Ali et al. (2006), Van der Tas’s (1988) I index and Archer et al.’s (1995) modified C index were used to measure the extent of harmonization.

It was found that the level of measurement harmonization has significantly improved over the years in selected South Asian countries.

The results suggest that the harmonization of accounting will most likely ensure a greater level of transparency and uniformity in corporate reporting practices (measurement) in South Asian countries and throughout the world as promoted by the IASB.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the recent accounting regulations designed to facilitate international harmonization in Vietnam and to show how Vietnam developed an accounting system that harmonizes with international standards while preserving macroeconomic control.

This paper is developed using the theoretical framework on globalisation.

The recent development of accounting aims to implement Vietnam's commitment to harmonize its accounting system with the world. This process has faced some difficulties due to national particularities such as Vietnam's economic system and accounting tradition. This paper shows that the regulators have been careful in their approach to develop and find ways to combine or adapt when pushing for accounting development: a co‐existence of vietnamese accounting standards and a uniform accounting system. This point differs from the Anglo‐Saxon world, but is comparable to China.

The different approach to developing accounting regulation in Vietnam reflects the key role of the State in preserving governmental control while harmonizing with international standards.

This paper studies the influence of globalization on accounting development in Vietnam. It suggests that developing accounting practices in a country in harmony with international standards faces obstacles previously evidenced in the literature, such as economic system and accounting tradition. The study also provides insight into problems encountered by regulators who are incorporating international accounting standards into national accounting regulations. These problems suggest that international accounting standard setters and accounting regulators may face issues similar to those in Vietnam.

This paper contributes to the literature on international accounting harmonisation by illustrating the need for considering national particularities as factors that will affect the rate of harmonisation with international accounting standards.

This paper examines accounting harmonisation and determinants explaining accounting measurement policy choice decisions by Asia‐Pacific listed manufacturing companies. Using Thomas' (1991) theoretical framework, four contingent variables (country of reporting, company size, profitability and debt leverage) are examined as possible determinants of firms' accounting choices concerning non‐current asset valuation measurement base, goodwill and depreciation. 130 listed manufacturing companies' annual reports were examined from Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. This study involves two phases. The first phase evaluates accounting harmonisation measurement indices in comparison with the extant literature. An important innovation is the operationalisation of Archer et. al. (1995) between‐country and within‐country C indices. Computed comparability indices indicated variations in the level of harmony across the five countries for all three accounting measurement practices. The second phase employed logistic regression to examine possible determinants of accounting policy choice decisions. Such a combined research approach should lead to a better understanding of de facto accounting harmonisation and practices.

This study has been carried out to reveal the advantages of harmonization of accounting practices in Saudi Arabia. It deals with the process and the degree in accounting harmonization already taking place, and with analyzing the best option for Saudi Arabia to achieve accounting harmonization. A survey of accounting practices in Saudi Arabia is made of the consistency and change in measurement methods used over the period 2000‐2002. Two statistical tools are used. The Chi‐square test is used to assess whether the measurement practices by companies in Saudi Arabia are significantly different and the C‐index is used to find the degree of harmonization within Saudi Arabia in order to determine what factors appear to have influenced comparability.

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of disclosure harmonization in selected accounting disclosure practices in three South Asian countries, namely, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The study is based on a sample of 566 non‐financial companies for the financial year 1998. A total of 91 disclosure items were selected from 13 common IAS‐based accounting standards. The I index and chi‐square statistics are used to measure the degree of disclosure harmonization.

The values of the I index show a relatively higher degree of disclosure harmonization in the areas of inventories, cash flow statements, consolidated financial statements, investment in subsidiaries, and borrowing costs. A lower level of harmonization is observed in the areas of taxes on income, leases, retirement benefit costs, and investments.

These finding have implications for the national standard setters and regulators as well as the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA). These bodies may work together for the improvement of comparability of financial reporting in the region.

This paper investigates the financial disclosure practices of corporate annual reports published in Asian countries including Bangladesh, Indonesian, Malaysia and the Middle East countries including Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The purpose of the study is to measure the financial disclosure diversity in these countries, with a view to developing a classification of their similarities and differences in respect to their compliance with International Accounting Standards (IAS). Annual reports of 126 public companies liisted on the countries' stock exchanges are the central data source, supplemented with other relevant information about financial disclosure practices in each country. A disclosure checklist adopted from all IASs and summarised in 306 individual items of financial disclosures is used as a means of extending an understanding of financial reporting in these countries. Results show the relative degree of conformity with IASs for each of the countries included in this study.