International Accounting Standards Help Investors Make Economic Decisions.

Mondaq Business Briefing, September, 2004

In recent years, the European Commission (EC) regarded harmonization as a vital element in order to meet the growing need for transparent corporate accounts and the need to compare financial statements thus streamlining the development and efficiency of European financial markets. The principle at the base of the harmonization process is convergence and transparent financial information at an international level. The EC wants to ensure financial statements are no longer merely true and fair pictures of a business' economic position at a given date but are a financial information tool useful to those who make economic decisions. To achieve this goal, the European Union decided not to issue its own separate principles but rather to implement international standards that are...