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Challenges Facing the Accounting Profession

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Challenges Facing the Accounting Profession
Example of course discussion:

By 2010, foreign companies will be able to file on U.S. Stock Exchanges using IFRS standards.

With that in mind, what are some of the challenges facing the accounting profession, and how do you see them affecting you in the future?

Provide specific details to support your opinion in your response.

Answer:

The accounting field has standards in place that are used to report financial information of companies so that one can get a clear understanding of the company’s financial standing. However, standards can vary from country to country making it difficult to compare financial reports of companies in similar fields. This is a challenge the accounting profession has been dealing with for many years. Until there is uniformity one will not be able to really compare companies financial statements accurately. Currently the IASB and FASB are collaborating to develop international standards known as the International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS. However this means there are still two sets of standards accountants much know in depth.

Another challenge is deciding which set of standards should be the authoritative board for reporting financial information. There needs to be one set of standards, regardless of which country the company is based. Until this is put in place the biggest challenge for me will be comparing companies financial information from similar industry’s from another country. Having two set of standards will require more time put in at work and more training and knowledge of all the standards.

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