This course provides students with a critical understanding of the international financial reporting harmonisation project. The course explores the wider contextual factors (including economic, legal, political, cultural) that drive financial reporting practices and regulation, taking into account national and supra-national regimes and organisations. The course covers a selection of different jurisdictions and International Financial Reporting Standards as a means of explaining both current financial reporting rules, the challenges of financial reporting harmonisation, and the consequences of these rules on the persistence of financial reporting differences.

10 x 2 hour lectures, 4 x 1 hour tutorials

ACCFIN5013

Group project work (25%) and degree examination (75%).

It is the default expectation that all courses will offer opportunities for reassessment or deferred assessment. Where it is not possible to offer this in some assessment components, the grade achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade, and any exceptions for this course are described below.

[No exceptions]

The course aims to provide students with an understanding of the nature of, and influences on, financial reporting practices in different jurisdictions and a critical understanding of the purpose of and efforts made by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to harmonise financial reporting practices. Further, the course aims to demonstrate the application of a selection of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), enabling students to apply these standards and to understand their consequences for financial reporting and to explain why differences in accounting practice persist in different jurisdictions.

1. Critically evaluate the purpose and progress made by the harmonisation program of the IASB, including the effects of its interactions with other international organisations and national standard setting bodies; 

2. Critically evaluate the concept of 'harmonisation', including the importance of understanding how this is defined and a critical appraisal of the desirability of accounting harmonisation;

3. Identify and critically evaluate a range of contextual factors that influence the development of accounting and financial reporting systems in a global context and which might explain similarities and differences in accounting practice;

4. Identify, calculate and evaluate complex problems of financial accounting practice by the selection and application of appropriate accounting principles, assumptions and techniques (using IFRS);

5. Explain, through the use of academic literature and research, contemporary accounting issues and assess their effects on interpretation of financial statements and the importance of political factors in influencing the standards and/or their application; 

6. Conduct research and participate effectively in collaborative group project work, by liaising with other class members, allocating tasks and co-ordinating group meetings.