A Comparison between IFRS and US GAAP

AbstractThis paper focuses on the interplay between accounting standards and tax laws in the context of regulatory arbitrage by examining the development of synthetic leases especially in the USA. In a synthetic lease, the lease remains off balance sheet for financial reporting by the lessee, while depreciations and interest expenses can be deducted for tax purposes. Exploring the evolving structures of synthetic leases over the last 30 years, the paper demonstrates how financial engineers have been able to perpetually re-structure this sophisticated instrument to keep it off-balance sheet instrument notwithstanding regulatory changes. Specifically, it shows that the most recent revision of lease accounting standards in 2016 – that intended to mark the end of off-balance sheet leases under IFRS and US-GAAP – resulted in reviving the demand for synthetic leases as the tax benefits outweigh the structuring costs. Contributing to the debate on the shift towards international accounting convergence (including US-GAAP and IFRS), the paper argues that attempts to limit regulatory arbitrage may also consider the reciprocal linkages between accounting standards and tax laws. For instance, tax laws should be considered as a means to limit regulatory arbitrage in financial reporting.

Download Full-text

Nível de convergência dos princípios contábeis brasileiros e norte-americanos às normas do IASB: uma contribuição para a adoção das IFRS por empresas brasileiras

Revista Contabilidade & Finanças ◽

10.1590/s1519-70772011000200003 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 22 (56) ◽

pp. 155-173 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Valdiney Alves Oliveira ◽

Sirlei Lemes

Keyword(s):

Financial Reporting ◽

Sao Paulo ◽

International Financial Reporting Standards ◽

São Paulo ◽

Reporting Standards ◽

Financial Reporting Standards ◽

Big Four ◽

Us Gaap

A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo avaliar em que nível as informações contábeis divulgadas nos mercados: brasileiro e norte-americano atendem aos requisitos da adoção inicial das IFRS - International Financial Reporting Standards. A adoção das IFRS por companhias abertas brasileiras nas suas demonstrações contábeis consolidadas foi exigida pela Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) na Instrução CVM 457/07. Por meio de uma pesquisa descritiva quanto aos seus objetivos e utilizando-se dos procedimentos técnicos de pesquisa documental e de análise de conteúdo clássica, foram analisadas as demonstrações contábeis elaboradas para o ano de 2008 de acordo com os US GAAPs e os BR GAAPs de 20 empresas brasileiras listadas simultaneamente na Bolsa de Valores de Nova York (NYSE) e na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo (BOVESPA) e calculou-se o índice de disclosure proposto na pesquisa de Lopes e Rodrigues (2007). A pesquisa apontou para índices de disclosure calculados para o Form 20F maiores do que aqueles calculados para as Demonstrações Financeiras Padrão (DFP), confirmando um nível de convergência maior entre US GAAP e IFRS e sugerindo que, em função da adoção das IFRS as demonstrações contábeis em BR GAAP tendem a se modificar substancialmente aumentando o nível de divulgação. Além disso, os resultados confirmam para a amostra, o exposto na literatura selecionada de que o setor de atuação e o tamanho da empresa influem diretamente no disclosure das informações. Em relação aos auditores, o fato de as demonstrações serem auditadas pelas empresas globais de auditoria conhecidas como Big Four não foi determinante na extensão do disclosure.

Download Full-text

Accounting Standards and Earnings Quality — Evidence from Registered ADRs

Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies ◽

10.1142/s0219091518500224 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 21 (04) ◽

pp. 1850022

Author(s):

Yaseen S. Alhaj-Yaseen ◽

Kean Wu ◽

Leslie B. Fletcher

Keyword(s):

Financial Reporting ◽

Earnings Quality ◽

Accounting Standards ◽

Securities And Exchange Commission ◽

High Quality ◽

Reporting Standard ◽

International Financial Reporting Standard ◽

The Us ◽

Us Gaap

This paper examines the changes in earnings quality of registered American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) as a result of switching accounting standards. We aim to shed light on the potential impact of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) adoption on US firms. A suboptimal approach to achieve this goal is through examination of US firms’ surrogates such as ADRs. Unlike previous studies, we made a distinction between registered and unregistered ADRs and affirmed that registered ADRs are the closest surrogates with which to conduct our analysis because they are exclusively required to adhere to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s stringent disclosure requirements. When cross-listing their equity on the US exchanges, foreign issuers can file their financial reports with the SEC using IFRS, US GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles), or their domestic GAAP with reconciliation to US GAAP. An improvement in earnings quality is documented when ADRs adopt US GAAP or IFRS versus domestic GAAP. However, when the comparison is made between US GAAP and IFRS, no difference in earnings quality is documented. These results indicate that switching to high-quality accounting standards is likely to improve earnings quality. This improvement is maximized when the difference between reporting standards is high and minimized if otherwise. Our conclusion is that the adoption of IFRS in the US is unlikely to change earnings quality of local issuers. Moreover, we drew a distinction between reconciliation with and adoption of high-quality accountings standards and find that while the former can enhance earnings quality, the latter can further improve it.

Download Full-text