Discussion 1-IASB and FASB Merger?

Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), is quoted as saying that the IASB and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will eventually merge: "U.S. standards and ours will become so close that it will be senseless having two boards, and they will merge eventually. . .. Ultimately, it doesn't make sense having two standard setters producing the same standards" (Bolton, 2005).

Tasks:

Go to the websites of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the IASB (www.iasb.org) and the US FASB (http://www.fasb.org/home). Compare and contrast the two boards in terms of their composition and standard-setting processes.

Why is so much attention paid to the convergence between IFRS and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and not as much to the convergence between IFRS and other national accounting standards?

What evidence is there of the direction of convergence: Is US GAAP converging to IFRS, is IFRS converging to US GAAP, or are both converging toward each other?

US companies must use US GAAP in their financial statements; however, foreign filers may use international GAAP for reporting on a US stock exchange. Why should US accountants, analysts, and others involved in financial reporting know about IFRS?

Will the IASB and FASB eventually merge or will they remain separate accounting standard-setting bodies? Why do you say so?

Write your responses in 300-500 words. Your response should reflect the current APA standards for editorial style. Follow APA rules for attributing sources.

Discussion 2 -Financial Statement Analysis

You selected a multinational service company with operations in an Asian country for M3 Assignment 1. Using the same company, address the following questions:

Identify four user groups that rely on foreign financial statements for your company's financial decisions. What are the informational needs of these four user groups? Are the four main steps in financial statement analysis equally important to each of the four groups? If not, what are the differences?

One interpretation of the popular efficient markets hypothesis is that the market fully applies all public information as soon as it becomes available. Thus, it is theoretically not possible to beat the market if fundamental financial analysis techniques are applied to publicly available information, such as a firm's published accounts. Why might this hypothesis be more tenable in the U.S. than in other international capital markets?

What would be your five most important recommendations for analyzing nondomestic financial statements and why?

Write your responses in 300-500 words. Your responses should reflect the current APA standards for editorial style. Follow APA rules for attributing sources.