The recent relaunch of the European Commission’s Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) project promises a sorely needed leap forward in the harmonization of the rules by which companies calculate their taxable profits. In particular, the initiative hopes to remedy the severe barrier to cross-border business caused by the ‘the accounting Tower of Babel’ by which companies’ tax bases are determined under national law. This thorough analysis and commentary covers the influence of accounting rules on tax, considering both generally accepted standards – international accounting standards (IAS) and international financial reporting standards (IFRS) – and EU Directive 2013/34. Three introductory chapters usher in detailed comparative overviews of the effect of these rules on taxation in nine EU Member States as well as in two other major EU trading partners, the United States and Brazil. Fully explaining the remarkable recent improvement in the comparability of accounts that represent favourable preconditions for creating a single market for financial services within the EU, this book covers every relevant detail, including the following and much more: – criterion of evaluation of alternative fixed assets based on revaluated amounts; – criterion based on fair value; – provisions applicable to income statements, notes, reports, and financial statements; – rules applicable to the publication of documents; – transparency in payments to governments; – dispositions on exemptions; – hierarchy of general provisions and principles; – balance sheet and profit and loss account; – simplifications for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); – system of creditors’ protection; and – protection of investors’ interests. This book is a peerless explication of the taxation choices granted to Member States under IAS/IFRS and EU Directive 2013/34 and how they will be affected by ongoing Commission initiatives. Because relevant, timely, reliable, and comparable information assumes a leading role in protecting the interests of investors, creditors, and other stakeholders, as well as in ensuring that all operators act on a level playing field under equal conditions, the analysis presented here is of immeasurable value to lawyers, business persons, and officials concerned with taxation, not only in Europe but anywhere within the reach of international trade.

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: This case study deals with an important financial aspect of multinational companies, i.e. their obligation of accounting. Until the year 2000, BMW used to prepare its annual external audits under German Commercial Code Standards (HGB). This tradition ended in 2000, when BMW accounted under International Accounting Standards (IAS) for the first time. 7 years before, Mercedes-Benz was the first German automotive manufacturer adopting international Standards in 1993. But in Mercedes case US-Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US-GAAP) were chosen, because the objective was to become listed at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). At this time US-GAAP were not accepted outside the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA), esp. not by the EU Commission, but the US-Principles were applied in the largest and most important stock market worldwide. On the other hand, US organizations like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) did not accept any other accounting standards in these days. Accordingly, Mercedes-Benz had to prepare two annual audits: one under US-GAAP and the other under HGB. This treatment, obviously, was highly inefficient, providing lots of encumbrances to US-capital-seeking European companies: accounting and auditing took too much time, personnel resources and money. Another negative effect was that many US companies hesitated with urgently required investments in Europe. But nevertheless, multinational groups seemed to have several advantages by using international accounting standards, even if they had to prepare more than one audit annually. Within the 1st part, this case study provides basic information dealing with accounting standards, in particular reasons and objectives, organizational patterns and the process of IAS becoming international accepted by pointing out their most important differences compared to US-GAAP and German HGB Standards. The 2nd part deals with the reasons of changing BMW s accounting standards by looking at the Group s key markets and the impact of IAS-adoption by examining their figures of non current assets, inventories, other current assets, liabilities & deferred incomes, provisions, equity as well as research & development within a four years comparison. At last the 3rd part gives an examination and summary of the results of IAS-reception for BMW, the effects on the stock market, changes of rating on the global market and gives hints to future [...]

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,3, University of applied sciences, Munich, language: English, abstract: Due to a regulation of the European Union (EU) concerning financial accounting issued on June 6th, 2002, all listed companies in EU are obligated to provide their Consolidated Financial Statements (CFS) in accordance with financial accounting principles of International Accounting Standards (IAS) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from January 1st, 2005. This regulation enables a necessary harmonization of accounting principles within the EU and supports a clear comparability of CFS worldwide. The object of this study is to analyze major differences of CFS in German GAAP and IAS/IFRS. Thereby, variations of both accounting standards are compared and a major difference is explained thoroughly with a concrete example. The major differences of CFS in IAS/IFRS and German GAAP result from different aims of both accounting standards. The German GAAP is strongly based on prudence principle for protection of creditors and authoritative principle (tax accounting based on commercial accounting). In comparison, the IAS/IFRS deliver potential investors realistic and decision useful information about assets, finance, and profit situations of a company (true and fair view / fair presentation principle). These basic principles could be reflected in several key points of the both accounting standards whose differences are clarified in this study. Furthermore, an essential key point of CFS namely the basis of consolidation (contains enterprises included in the consolidation and capital consolidation methods) is illuminated with a concrete example. Hereby, the relation between the control influence of the parent enterprise on its “sub-entities” and the correspondent capital consolidation methods are studied.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: A, University of Amsterdam, course: Bachelor of Science in Accounting & Control, language: English, abstract: This paper investigates the adequacy of IFRS 7 by measuring companies’ compliance and extent of disclosure. Adequacy is defined as: to what extent does the standard achieves its objective, which is, to require entities to disclose certain information associated with the use of financial instruments. For this purpose, the annual reports of 21 European electricity companies with fiscal years ending December 31, 2007 have been examined. The author constructed an unweighted disclosure index of 103 items, based on the IFRS 7 requirements, for quantifying the extent of disclosure. The results suggest that the sample companies varied in disclosure levels. Certain required disclosures were sometimes not provided. For instance, the majority of the sample companies provided quantitative disclosures of market risk; however the market risk measurement models are insufficiently explained. The limitations inherent to the models used were usually not discussed. Further, the results show that electricity companies were not keen on providing additional disclosures. This study also seeks to find associations between the extent of disclosure and some corporate characteristics of which statistical relationships were found in prior literature, such as corporate size, listing status, profitability, leverage and auditor size. However, this ended up without any significant findings. This is likely due to the sample size which is inappropriate for statistical testing. Finally, the paper concludes that the shortcomings in disclosure call for regulation. It is expected that, if no regulation were in place, little would be disclosed with respect to risk associated with the use of financial instruments.

Master's Thesis from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: 1.5, University of Applied Sciences Fulda, language: English, abstract: In recent years, the applicable accounting standards for companies changed considerably. Until the 1990s, the development of accounting standards was mainly a national responsibility. In consequence, the standards were influenced by national factors. Therefore, there was much divergence among domestic accounting standards. Only in recent years, there is a strong trend to the convergence of domestic accounting standards. The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) play a major role in this convergence process. The IFRS have influence on the convergence process in two ways. On the one hand, some countries require the use of IFRS or an adjusted version of IFRS for all domestic companies or for segments of domestic companies, for example listed companies. On the other hand, some countries converge their domestic accounting standards with IFRS. In a survey of fifty-nine countries conducted by the major accounting firms in 2002, 90% of these countries confirmed that they intend to adopt or converge with IFRS. One of the most important decisions in this convergence process was the passing of a regulation by the commission of the European Union (EU) in 2002. This regulation requires that all listed companies in the EU must present their consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2005. What are the reasons for this convergence process? The main reason is that companies and investors increasingly conduct their operations on a global scale, but the legal and regulatory frameworks for their reporting activities remain country based. So, the companies have to apply many different accounting standards for the reporting of their subsidiaries in different countries. On the one hand this incurs additional costs for multinational companies and on the other hand it is more difficult for investors to compare investment opportunities globally. The convergence of accounting standards reduces definitely the costs of multinational companies. However it is not obvious, if financial reports in accordance with IFRS of companies from different companies are really comparable. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is responsible for the development of IFRS. In order to get worldwide acceptance of IFRS, the IASB provides many interest groups and countries the opportunity to participate in the standardsetting process. [...]

"International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) are being increasingly used by companies throughout the world. All entities listed in the EU have been required to issue financial statements under IFRS since 2005, and more and more other countries are making the change to IFRS including the US and Canada. ... The Manual is packed full of clear, practical guidance on how to prepare financial statements in accordance with IFRS. It includes hundreds of practical worked examples and extracts from company reports as well as model IFRS financial statements that help to illustrate the explanations and show exactly how even the most complex calculations and disclosures should be made."--Cover.