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International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are now required for consolidated financial reports for all European Union exchange-listed companies. Officials estimated that for 2005, the initial year of EU adoption, 8,000 financial statements were prepared in accordance with IFRS for the first time. Other countries have also adopted IFRS or IFRS-equivalent financial reporting standards. IFRS differ from U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in many key areas. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are working on various convergence projects designed to reduce or eliminate differences between the two sets of reporting standards. But existing differences will likely continue for at least the next two years, and, for many accounting topics, differences are likely to last much longer. This article highlights the 20 convergence projects and summarizes the differences between the two sets of standards. In addition, differences in three topics that are not included in the convergence efforts are identified. Differences between IFRS and U.S. GAAP found in actual EU company Form 20-F filings are used to illustrate the impact of the reporting-standard differences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cooper Tire & Rubber adheres to the standards prescribed in SFAS No. 131, whereas Briggs & Stratton and Caterpillar follow the "management approach" in reconciling their segment numbers to their enterprise numbers. Despite their diverging from SFAS No. 131, the annual reports of the latter two companies received "clean opinions" from their auditors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Provides insights into why the value gap is responsible for the enhanced demand for voluntary corporate disclosure. Impact of extensible business reporting language on voluntary disclosures; Primary objective of traditional financial reporting; Benefits and problems associated with voluntary disclosures; Capital market and cost implications of increased voluntary disclosure.

Presents an analysis of corporate Web site disclosures. Advantages of a corporate disclosure on the Internet over a typical annual report; Assessment of the variety of data available on corporate Web sites; Summary of disclosures found on corporate Web sites.

Investigates the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) at the first level of the balanced scorecard hierarchy by several companies in the U.S. Characteristics of lean enterprises; Overview of AHP; Contents of a balanced scorecard.