Study of standards of IAS (International Accounting Standards), of an international dimension, and comparison with principal rival of the US GAAP

The last modification date of the French accounting plan was in the year 1999. This change has increased the rigor given to accounting in French companies. The (International Accounting Standards or the IAS are developed by members of the NCC with transparency.

In Europe, the Commission proposed a draft regulation mandating IAS for the preparation of consolidated accounts of EU listed companies from 2005, which was approved by Parliament and the Council of Ministers of the European Union on March 12, 2002.

Europe will thus be the first region in the world to adopt the body of IAS, which represents a significant advance in international accounting harmonization. For French listed companies, production and communication of financial information, both internally and externally, will be modified in depth. All the changes that are imposed require a real project management.

The impact of standards and decisions that involve financial statements require the attention of executives and boards of directors. Besides the effect on the consolidated financial statements, it should start managing this project because it is necessary to consider all consequences related to of the transition to IAS.

While the IAS changed again by 2005, the changes were limited to items on the work programs of the IASB, which means that it is possible for companies to begin to prepare both the standards that are now stabilized on the expected changes.

How did the IAS, which has an international dimension, come to win against their main rival, the U.S. GAAP? The purpose of this report is to explain, firstly the IAS, and in the second part, it will undertake a comparison between IAS and other standards. Finally, it will consider the implementation of IAS in listed companies, and the consequences in terms of organization and communication of the changes involved.

The IASC was established in 1973 in order to "formulate and publishin the public interest, accounting standards to be observed for the presentation of financial statements and to promote their acceptance and application in the world."

In its Communication of 1995 on its new accounting strategy, the Commission proposed to Member States to allow global operators who wish to appeal to international capital markets to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with IAS(International Accounting Standards).

Since then, seven Member States (Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Finland, Italy,Luxembourg) have allowed listed companies to prepare their consolidated accounts in accordance with IAS or U.S. GAAP * (accounting principles generally accepted in the United States).

Two systems dominate the financial world. One American, comes from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the agency responsible to issue accounting standards, known as U.S. GAAP for U.S. companies. The other, international, based on International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), which produces the so-called IAS or IFRS standards through its Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

The main differences between French GAAP and accounts under U.S. GAAP include the goodwill (goodwill) allocations of goodwill on equity authorized by the former French GAAP, are not under U.S. GAAP ,

March 12, 2002, the European Parliament had approved almost unanimously a European Commission regulation mandating the adoption of IAS standards by listed companies of the Old World from 2005. The problem for companies is that not only that these two systems need to coexist for years, but they functon under a different philosophy.

Tags: Study of IAS (International Accounting Standards), the US GAAP, comparison between IAS and GAAP