tailieunhanh - The EU and the Global Convergence in Accounting Standards

Each stage in the life cycle of coal—extraction, transport, processing, and combustion—generates a waste stream and carries multiple hazards for health and the environment. These costs are external to the coal industry and are thus often considered “externalities.”We estimate that the life cycle effects of coal and the waste streamgenerated are costing the . public a third to over one-half of a trillion dollars of these so-called externalities are, moreover, cumulative. Accounting for the damages conservatively doubles to triples the price of electricity fromcoal per kWh generated, making wind, solar, and other forms of nonfossil fuel power generation, along with investments in efficiency and electricity. | Policy Area Accounting Standards European Union Center of North Carolina EU Briefings The EU and the Global Convergence in Accounting Standards Since 2000 Europe has led a global movement towards the creation of a single set of accounting standards for companies whose shares are listed on a stock exchange. Now . firms and regulators are having to adapt. The International Accounting Standards Board IASB is at the center of the global convergence in accounting standards. The IASB is a privately funded non-governmental organization located in London. Its mission is to develop rules and principles for financial reporting that could apply around the world. While acceptance of these rules is not mandatory it is nevertheless widespread. There are currently close to 100 countries that have adopted or are officially committed to adopting the IASB s international financial reporting standards IFRS for the preparation and reporting of financial statements by companies with shares held by the public. This list of countries includes Australia Canada China the member-states of the European Union EU Japan New Zealand Russia and South Africa. Although the United States is not committed to adopting IFRS it has accepted to work together with the IASB in order to harmonize US accounting standards known as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles GAAP with IFRS. The fact that this process of global convergence in accounting standards has involved IFRS rather than US GAAP has taken many observers by surprise. Given America s dominance of financial markets during the 1990s it was commonly believed that international accounting around the world would converge to US standards. For example in the second half of the 1990s Canada decided to harmonize its financial reporting standards with those of the United States. Two phenomena worked together to weaken the case of the international convergence in accounting standards towards US GAAP 1 the European Union s EU decision to adopt IFRS for