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CHRISTOPHER NOBES AND ROBERT PARKER, Comparative International Accounting, Ninth Edition (Essex, U.K.: Pearson Education Limited, 2006, xvi, 555pp).
The ninth edition of Comparative International Accounting has been substantially revised and augmented in order to address recent developments within international accounting. The book is organized into six parts. Part I (Chapters 1 to 4) constitutes an introduction to international accounting providing an overview of the development of harmonization and examples of accounting classification attempts over time. Part h (Chapters 5 to 9) describes financial reporting by quoted companies and focuses on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and U.S. GAAP. Part hI (Chapters 10 and 11) covers the harmonization and transition towards equity-oriented accounting practices in Europe and East Asia. Part IV (Chapters 12 to 14), a new addition, provides a detailed description of financial reporting of individual companies. Part V (Chapters 15 to 18) and VI (Chapters 19 to 22) of the book discuss multinational enterprises' (MNEs) financial reporting, financial analysis, and managerial accounting in an international context. There are useful questions at the end of each chapter, with answers to some of them available in the book. The instructor's manual on the publisher's website includes answers to all of these questions as well as some additional questions with answers. PowerPoint files containing tables and figures from the book (but not presentations per se) are also the available on the website.
Chapter 1 explains the importance of taking a comparative approach to international accounting. Chapter 2 discusses causes of diversity in accounting and includes a discussion on the impact of culture on accounting diversity based on Gray's work (1988). This is followed by a discussion on the main influences to accounting diversity, including legal systems and source of financing. Table 2.3, showing gearing ratios across European countries based on Tucker (1994), may have been updated with recent information. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the development and the ongoing debate related to international accounting classifications. Chapter 4 offers a discussion on international accounting harmonization, the main players involved in this process, and a discussion on the measurement of...