The Routledge Companion to Accounting, Reporting and Regulation

569 Pages·2013·2.321 MB·English

by  Carien van Mourik, Peter Walton

The Routledge Companion to
Accounting, Reporting
and Regulation
Financial accounting, reporting and regulation is a vast subject area of huge importance globally
with interest rising signifi cantly in the light of the ongoing global fi nancial crisis.
In the fi rst part, a broad overview of the subject of accounting is presented which sets the
stage for some of the theoretical and practical issues and debates regarding fi nancial reporting
which follow in the second part. These issues include how to defi ne the reporting entity, recog-
nition and measurement of the elements of fi nancial statements, fair values in fi nancial reporting,
and the costs and benefi ts of disclosure. The third part assesses the interests, needs and theories
of accounting, reporting and regulation, while parts four and fi ve look at the institutional, social
and economic aspects, including issues growing in importance, such as accounting for environ-
mental management and accounting, regulation and fi nancial reporting in Islamic countries.
This authoritative Companion volume presents a broad overview of the state of the art of
these disciplines and will provide a comprehensive reference source for students and academics
involved in these areas.
Carien van Mourik is Lecturer in Accounting at the Open University Business School. Her
research interests include financial accounting and reporting theory, and the public interest in
international financial accounting and reporting regulation.
Peter Walton i s an Emeritus Professor at the Open University Business School and IFRS
Director at the ESSEC-KPMG Reporting Centre at ESSEC Business School, Paris. Peter is
the Chairman of the EAA Financial Reporting Standards Committee. He is also the Editor of
World Accounting Report and The Routledge Companion to Fair Value and Financial Reporting (2007).
Routledge Companions in Business, Management and Accounting
Routledge Companions in Business, Management and Accounting are similar to what some
publishers call ‘handbooks’, i.e. prestige reference works providing an overview of a whole
subject area or sub-discipline, and which survey the state of the discipline including emerging
and cutting edge areas. These books provide a comprehensive, up-to-date, defi nitive work of
reference which can be cited as an authoritative source on the subject.
One of the key aspects of the Routledge Companions in Business, Management and Accounting
series is their international scope and relevance. Edited by an array of well-regarded scholars, these
volumes also benefi t from teams of contributors which refl ect an international range of perspectives.
Individually, Routledge Companions in Business, Management and Accounting provide an
impactful one-stop-shop resource for each theme covered, whilst collectively they represent a
comprehensive learning and research resource for researchers and postgraduates and practitioners.
Published titles in this series include:
The Routledge Companion to Fair Value and Financial Reporting
Edited by Peter Walton
The Routledge Companion to Nonprofi t Marketing
Edited by Adrian Sargeant and Walter Wymer Jr
The Routledge Companion to Accounting History
Edited by John Richard Edwards and Stephen P. Walker
The Routledge Companion to Creativity
Edited by Tudor Rickards, Mark A. Runco and Susan Moger
The Routledge Companion to Strategic Human Resource Management
Edited by John Storey, Patrick M. Wright and David Ulrich
The Routledge Companion to International Business Coaching
Edited by Michel Moral and Geoffrey Abbott
The Routledge Companion to Organizational Change
Edited by David M. Boje, Bernard Burnes and John Hassard
The Routledge Companion to Cost Management
Edited by Falconer Mitchell, Hanne Nørreklit and Morten Jakobsen
The Routledge Companion to Digital Consumption
Edited by Russell W. Belk and Rosa Llamas
The Routledge Companion to Identity and Consumption
Edited by Ayalla A. Ruvio and Russell W. Belk
The Routledge Companion to Public–Private Partnerships
Edited by Piet de Vries and Etienne B. Yehoue
The Routledge Companion to Accounting, Reporting and Regulation
Edited by Carien van Mourik and Peter Walton
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The Routledge Companion
to Accounting, Reporting
and Regulation
Edited by Carien van Mourik
and Peter Walton
First published 2014
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 Carien van Mourik and Peter Walton
The rights of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The Routledge companion to accounting, reporting and regulation /
edited by Carien van Mourik and Peter Walton.
pages cm. — (Routledge companions in business, management and
accounting)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Accounting. 2. Accounting—Standards. I. Van Mourik, Carien.
II. Walton, Peter J.
HF5636.R68 2013
657—dc23
2012042995
ISBN: 978-0-415-62573-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-10320-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo, ITC Stone Sans
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of Contributors xi
Preface xvii
Acknowledgements xix
List of Illustrations xxi
PART 1
Accounting 1
1 What is accounting? 3
Anne Britton
2 Methodology in financial accounting theory 34
Carien van Mourik
3 Fundamental issues in financial accounting and reporting theory 54
Carien van Mourik
4 European accounting theory: evolution and evaluation 72
Salme Näsi, Chiara Saccon, Sonja Wűstemann and Peter Walton
5 English-language theories of financial reporting 93
Christopher Napier
PART 2
Reporting 111
6 Recognition and measurement 113
Peter Walton
7 Fair value and financial reporting 128
David Cairns
vii
Contents
8 Costs and benefits of disclosure 144
Ann Gaeremynck and Mathijs Van Peteghem
9 Auditing, regulation and the persistence of the expectations gap 163
Christopher Humphrey, Anna Samsonova and Javed Siddiqui
PART 3
(International) accounting standard setting and regulation 185
10 T he public interest in international financial accounting, reporting
and regulation 187
Carien van Mourik
11 Perspectives on the role of and need for accounting regulation 207
Lisa Baudot
12 Economic theory of financial reporting regulation 228
John Christensen and Hans Frimor
13 Global convergence of accounting standards 246
Alfred Wagenhofer
14 The role of conceptual frameworks in accounting standard-setting 265
Carien van Mourik and Peter Walton
15 The application of IFRS across different institutional environments 281
Bernard Raffournier
PART 4
Institutional aspects of (international) fi nancial reporting
regulation 299
16 The International Accounting Standards Board 301
Kees Camfferman
17 Influences on the standard-setting and regulatory process 318
Lisa Baudot and Peter Walton
18 Stock exchanges and international financial reporting 339
Philippe Danjou
viii
Contents
19 Auditors and international financial reporting 380
Kathryn Cearns
20 Multinational corporations and IFRS 399
Malcolm Cheetham, Manfred Kaeser and Juliane Scheinert
21 The IFRS for SMEs 411
Paul Pacter
PART 5
Social and economic aspects of (international) fi nancial
reporting regulation 435
22 Socio-economic consequences of IFRSs 437
Soledad Moya
23 Turf wars or missionary zeal: IFRS, IFAC, the World Bank and the IMF 453
Rachel Baskerville
24 A ccounting regulation in emerging markets and newly
industrializing countries 471
Ahsan Habib
25 Accounting regulation and IFRS in Islamic countries 492
Salim Aissat, Lotfi Boulkeroua, Mike Lucas and Carien van Mourik
26 Accounting tools for environmental management and communication 515
Charles H. Cho and Marie-Andrée Caron
Index 531
ix