Customer Reviews

International Accounting (4th Edition)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book, written as a text for accounting/business students, provides an excellent overview of accounting standards around the world. Rather than providing a detailed listing of accounting standards for each country (best left for reference texts and online, easily updatable sources) the authors focus on the key features of accounting standards, disclosures and harmonization efforts worldwide.

This book provides an excellent, basic primer in international accounting. It is easily read by anyone with a basic understanding of business and finance and/or accounting. The authors provide numerous examples of international financial reporting, taken from actual financial statements and annual reports.

A useful book that provides a good summary comparing differing Accounting Standards and approaches between countries. However, it is not worth the price. It is supposedly written for later year undergraduate and masters accounting students. It is more suitable for general second year accounting students. Plus, as I am working with a multinational European bank in Japan, the book is, rapidly becoming, out of date. There is none of the simply but incisive commentary which can be found in other books about the differences and outcomes of general accounting principals drawn from different countries.

Maybe I am not as smart as the reviewer from Texas who gave this book five stars. I profoundly disliked this textbook. At best it is a mediocre piece of work.

Here are my gripes:

a) The authors do not concentrate on the essential. Particularly painful for me were chapters 3 and 4. There were so many long narratives that touched on insignificant things. See page 132: What changed in accounting when Mexico declared independence from Spain? Instead, information of relevance is missing. For example the accounting for pension liabilities in other countries should have been examined closer.

b) Explanations are complicated and long.

c) One is unnecessarily burdened with references to what happened in the past. Who cares what regulation was passed in 1965 when it is no longer in effect today. Such references may be appropriate for a research paper, but not for a textbook. When we get out in the real world, it will be more important to know what rules are in effect at this point.

Overall, it was a drag studying from this book week by week. Isn't there anything better out there on international accounting?

The good thing about this book is that it's small and practical. However, it is filled with many errors - as the professor pointed out - so this makes its reading more difficult and not as trustworthy. Otherwise, it is fine.