financial accounting theory （rmit university,craig deegan）--chapter6会计会计、文化差异的影响和协同效应

Financial Accounting TheoryCraig Deegan,Chapter 6International accounting and the effects of cultural differences and harmonisation effects Slides written by Michaela Rankin,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.2,Learning Objectives,In this chapter you will be introduced to an appreciation that there are many differences between some countries in the accounting policies and practices adoptedvarious explanations about why countries adopt particular accounting practices in preference to otherssome of the arguments that suggest that it is appropriate that there are international differences in accounting practices,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.3,Learning Objectives,what is meant by the term harmonisation of accountingsome of the perceived benefits of harmonising accounting practices on an international scalesome of the obstacles to harmonisation, and the criticisms that efforts to harmonise accounting internationally have attracted,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.4,Three ways international accounting can be defined,universal or world accountingconsiders issues associated with the implementation of a uniform set of accounting rules throughout the world comparative or international accountingdifferences in the ways different countries undertake the practice of financial accounting parentforeign subsidiary accountingpractices employed in consolidating the financial statements of parent entities with overseas subsidiaries,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.5,Two main models of financial accounting,Anglo-American modelstrongly influenced by professional accounting bodies rather than government, emphasises importance of capital markets, emphasises true and fair, considerations of economic substance over legal formContinental European Modelrelatively small input from accounting profession, little reliance on qualitative true and fair, strong reliance on government,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.6,Reasons for international accounting differences,Underlying laws and political systemstax systemslevel of educationlevel of economic developmentnature of business ownership and financing systemcolonial inheritancetaxationculturehistorylanguagereligion,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.7,The effect of culture on accounting systems,Impacts on legal systems, tax systems, and the way businesses are formed and financed etc.previously used to explain differences in social systemsan expression of norms, values and customs which reflect typical behavioural characteristics,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.8,The effect of culture continued,culture reserved for societies as a whole or nationssubculture used for the level of an organisation, profession or familyinternational differences in accounting systems may be explained by a framework incorporating culture,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.9,Hofstedes cultural dimensions,Four underlying societal dimensions along which countries could be positioned:IndividualismPower DistanceUncertainty AvoidanceMasculinity,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.10,Individualism versus collectivism,Addresses degree of interdependence a society maintains among individuals individualism refers to a preference for a loosely knit social framework wherein individuals care for themselves and their immediate familiescollectivism stands for a tightly knit social framework where relatives, clan or other in-group look after each other,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.11,Power distance,Power distance is the extent to which members of a society accept that power in institutions and organisations is distributed unequallylarge power distance societies accept a hierarchical order in which everyone has a placesmall power distance societies strive for power equalisation,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.12,Uncertainty avoidance,The degree to which the members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguitystrong uncertainty avoidance societies maintain rigid codes of belief and behaviourweak uncertainty avoidance societies maintain a more relaxed atmosphere where practice counts more than principles,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.13,Masculinity versus femininity,Addresses the way in which a society allocates social rolesmasculinity stands for a preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material successfemininity stands for a preference for relationships, modesty, caring for the weak, and quality of life,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.14,Societal dimensions and accounting subculture,The value systems of accountants are derived from related societal valuesthe values of the accounting subculture will in turn impact on the development of the respective accounting systems at national levelcan accounting systems be developed in a one-size-fits-all approach?,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.15,Grays accounting values,Gray developed four accounting values deemed to relate to the accounting subculture, with the intention of linking them to Hofstedes four societal valuesprofessionalism versus statutory controluniformity versus flexibilityconservatism versus optimismsecrecy versus transparency,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.16,Grays hypotheses,H1: The higher a country ranks in terms of Individualism and the lower it ranks in terms of Uncertainty Avoidance and Power Distance, the more likely it is to rank highly in terms of ProfessionalismH2: The higher a country ranks in terms of Uncertainty Avoidance and Power Distance and the lower it ranks in terms of Individualism, then the more likely it is to rank highly in terms of Uniformity,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.17,Grays hypothesescontinued,H3: The higher a country ranks in terms of Uncertainty Avoidance and the lower it ranks in terms of Individualism and Masculinity, then the more likely it is to rank highly in terms of ConservatismH4: The higher a country ranks in terms of Uncertainty Avoidance and Power Distance and the lower it ranks in terms of Individualism and Masculinity, then the more likely it is to rank highly in terms of Secrecy,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.18,Grays hypothesescontinued,Gray further hypothesised relationships between accounting values and:the authority and enforcement of accounting systemsthe measurement and disclosure characteristics of accounting systems,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.19,Other research using Hofstedes cultural dimensions,Zarzeski (1996) used Hofstedes dimensions to explain greater levels of disclosure Perera (1989) used Hofstedes cultural dimensions and Grays accounting subcultural value dimensions to explain differences in the accounting practices of European and Anglo-American countries,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.20,Other research usingHofstedes dimensions cont.,Baydoun and Willett (1995) investigated the use of the French United Accounting System in Lebanon,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.21,The effect of religion on accounting systems,Religion transcends national boundariesimpacts on global harmonisation of accounting standardsHamid, Craig and Clarke (1993) examined how Islamic cultures have failed to embrace Western accounting practicescompliance with Islamic beliefs can affect the structure of business and financemany Western accounting practices are incompatible with Islamic principles,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.22,The effect of religion on accounting systemscontinued,Religion can affect how people do business and how they make decisions, for example:Islam precludes debt financing and prohibits payment of interestthe Western objective of financial reporting of rational economic decision-making (refer CFs discussed in Chapter 5) may not be a relevant objective in some societies,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.23,Business ownership and financing system,At a country level the financing system is relevant to the purpose of financial reportingthree types of financing systems:capital market-based (eg. UK and US)credit-based system: governmental (eg. France and Japan)credit-based system: financial institutions (eg. Germany),Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.24,Business ownership and financing systemcontinued,Systems relying upon equity markets will have greater demand for public disclosurescredit-based systems more concerned with the protection of creditorscolonial inheritance is also a major explanatory factor,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.25,Impact of international agencies,Examples of institutions or bodies which can impact on a countrys accounting policies are:multinational companiesinternational accounting firmslarge monetary organisations eg. World BankInternational Accounting Standards Committee,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.26,International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC),Formed in 1973members are all the accounting professional bodies that are members of the International Federation of Accountants143 members in 103 countrieshas released more than 30 International Accounting Standards and undertaken work on a conceptual framework to date,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.27,Objectives of IASC,To formulate and publish accounting standards and to promote their worldwide acceptanceto work on the improvement and harmonisation of regulations, accounting standards and procedures,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.28,Aims of IASC,Short-term aimfor national accounting standards and IASs to convergeLong-term aim of global uniformitya single set of accounting standards for all listed and economically significant business enterprises around the world,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.29,Uses of IASs,Basis for national accounting requirementsinternational benchmark for countries developing their own standardsused by stock exchanges and regulatory bodiesused by supra-national bodiesused by the World Bank Groupused by a growing number of individual companies,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.30,Other international bodies,United Nations;Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OECD);European Economic Community (EEC); and European Union (EU) have all called for moves towards uniform accounting,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.31,International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO),Working with IASC and has assisted IASs to achieve widespread acceptancedeveloped a plan such that compliance with IASs will allow an organisation to have securities listed in all global markets,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.32,International Federation of Accounting Committee (IFAC),Concentrates on international issues associated with the practice of auditing and accounting educationalso issues associated with ethical conduct,Copyright 2000 McGraw-Hill Book Co. Aust. PPT t/a Financial Accounting Theory by Deegan,6.33,Harmonisation of accounting,Harmonisation refers to a process that attempts to make accounting standards released by different countries as similar as possibledoes not imply absolute st