Our dean, Santiago Iñiguez, often referred to English as the lingua franca of business. The same words, lingua franca, has said the chairman of the SEC, Christopher Cox, at a conference in AICPA to refer to the IASB standards in the field of financial reporting. The availability of common standards to reflect transactions made by companies in different countries is imperative for the development of companies and markets, financial and nonfinancial.

Maybe there are people to whom the above assertion might seem exaggerated. However, some practical examples teach us that different standars of reporting can generate misperceptions. It is well-known the Daimler Benz case in the early 90´. Daimler Benz was the first German company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. What according to the German standards were profits, while crossing the Atlantic and adapt to American standards, it was a loss. Same business, different result?

Continue reading 'The "lingua franca" for financial reporting and the role of business schools'

Today (15.30 to 16.30 GMT) FASB conduct a free live webcast panel discussing international convergence of financial accounting. The panelist are Robert Herz, chairman of the FASB, Peter Bridgman, senior VicePresident and controller of Pepsico, Greg Jonas, managing director of Moody´s investor Service, and Sam Ranzilla, partner at KPMG. The webcast will also be archived on the FASB website.

http://www.fasb.org/fasb_webcast_series.shtml

Con la entrada de cualquier año se multiplican los propositos que todos hacemos. Ocurre en todos lo campos y el contable no es una excepción. Desde este punto de vista, el 2008 va a ser, sin duda, un año interesante en el que deben avanzar y en algún caso concluir diferentes proyectos que afectan al sistema de financial reporting en el ámbito nacional e internacional.

Desde el punto de vista internacional hay si duda un tema prioritario que es la convergencia entre los estándares IASB y FASB. La reciente decisión de la SEC de aceptar los estados financieros de empresas extranjeras emitidos bajo IFRS sin necesidad de reconcialiación con las normas FASB ha sido un paso importante en el proceso de convergencia. Queda por ver si la decisión de emitir estados financieros bajo IFRS se ampliará a las propias empresas de EEUU, para lo cual hay voces a favor y en contra.

Continue reading 'Propósitos contables'