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ROBERT J. KIRSCH, The International Accounting Standards Committee: A Political History (Surrey, U.K.: Wolters Kluwer Ltd., 2006, xx, 465 pp).
This book covers the history of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), which was the predecessor to the current International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). In chronological fashion, the author focuses on the principal individuals and political and economic factors underlying its development. The main themes of this book include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) the importance of the an of politics and compromise in the life of the IASC, (2) the lASC's insistence upon maintaining autonomy and preeminence in international standard setting, (3) the growth in technical complexity and detail of accounting standards, (4) the growth in importance and acceptability of the standards, (5) the role of the IASC chairs in setting its strategy, (6) the allegation of Anglo-Saxon dominance over the IASC, and (7) the role of the major international accounting firms.
Chapter 1 offers an overview of the contents of this book. Chapter 2 deals with the Accountants' International Study Group, which was formed in 1966...