International Financial Reporting and Analysis

This new edition is designed to meet the rapidly emerging demand for coverage of new international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and the globalisation of accounting in advanced courses. The book is predicated on an IASB framework but the European directives, especially as regards detailed formats having no direct equivalent in IFRS, are discussed in detail. The European context and, in the case of important markets, the national context is recognised and contrasted with the international approach. Important non-European influences, especially those from the US, are included in order to provide a genuinely wide-ranging appreciation of the implications of accounting internationalism. Part 1 - Framework, Theory and Regulation - contains coverage of the theoretical underpinnings of financial reporting in an international context. It also describes the international, European and domestic regulatory framework of accounting. Part 2 - Annual Financial Statements - starts by analysing the legal background of the concept of capital and profit. The relevant parts of the second European directive are introduced and the contents of published financial statements described. The main problem areas of financial reporting as covered by IFRS are then analysed. The approach in these chapters consists of discussion of each problem area and its theoretical issues, discussion of the international regulation relating to the problem, and important national and regional representations or variations. Part 3 -Consolidated Accounts and the Multinational - covers group accounts in an international context. Part 4 - Financial Information and Analysis - discusses in depth the availability and transparency of financial information as published, and then the usage and interpretation of that information. The book is student oriented throughout, and contains activities, examples of reporting using IFRS from real companies' accounts, questions and answers.