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This paper documents the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) 34 literature, primarily in the areas of (1) accountability and improved reporting, (2) government-wide financial statements and accrual accounting and (3) infrastructure asset capitalization and the modified approach. The paper also evaluates the state of the research, recognizes implications for practice and standard setting, identifies knowledge gaps and proposes avenues for future research.

The authors identified the articles in this narrative review by searching Google Scholar and EBSCO for the years 2000 through 2023, using the keywords GASB 34, government-wide financial statements, government fund statements, infrastructure assets and modified approach.

This review finds that GASB 34 requirements improved accountability and reporting, but GASB can still make improvements. The addition of the MD&A section requirement improved readability but placed a burden on preparers. Analysis of government-wide statement research indicates that the accrual-based Statement of Net Assets provides value in credit decisions, while the accrual-based Statement of Activities does not. The research on infrastructure accounting requirements shows limited adoption of the modified approach and some comparability issues with choices involving capitalization thresholds, baselines and asset management systems (AMSs). Based on this review, the authors also present suggestions to further this line of research.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first article that reviews over 20 years of GASB 34 related literature. The review and suggestions for future research are timely as GASB is in the process of reexamining some of GASB 34's requirements.

The purpose of this paper is empirically investigate the pro forma disclosure behavior of US-listed foreign firms applying International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

The annual earnings press releases of US-listed foreign firms on the New York Stock Exchange are analyzed to compare the effect that reporting standard (specifically IFRS) has on pro forma disclosure frequency, disclosure characteristics and benchmarking.

US-listed foreign firms applying IFRS report pro forma disclosures more frequently than firms using the USA’s generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), but less opportunistically.

This paper extends Epping and Wilder’s (2011) study and contributes to the pro forma disclosure literature by providing a cross-country analysis of non-GAAP disclosure based on reporting standard (IFRS or US GAAP). Understanding the non-GAAP disclosure of firms applying IFRS is useful to investors and regulators, as more countries adopt IFRS.