Thailand’s Convergence to IFRS

Excerpt

In April 2001, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) was founded to undertake the responsibilities of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), established in 1973. In 2002, a year after its establishment, the IASB united with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to combine their knowledge and develop a set of accounting standards, the so-called International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This replaces certain International Accounting Standards (IAS) and would be compatible with all countries in order to successfully carry out international business affairs and their accounting. Currently, over 100 countries across the world require or permit the use of IFRS as the globalization of businesses has steadily increased. This has caused a growing acceptance of a generalized set of standards for accountants and financial statements/reports’ users, especially for international investors and bankers (KPMG 2010). In addition, reporting in accordance with IFRS is also considered as a competitive tool in benchmarking the businesses by financial information users, in particular with regards to the potential cost savings for multinational companies in preparing the consolidated financial statements for their group. …