Dr Andrea Mennicken MAR 3.24 and Prof Michael Power MAR 3.43

This course is available on the CEMS Exchange, Diploma in Accounting and Finance, Global MSc in Management, Global MSc in Management (CEMS MIM), Global MSc in Management (MBA Exchange), MBA Exchange, MRes/PhD in Accounting (AOI) (Accounting, Organisations and Institutions Track), MSc in Accounting and Finance, MSc in Development Management, MSc in Development Management (LSE and Sciences Po), MSc in Economy and Society, MSc in Management and Strategy, MSc in Regulation and MSc in Risk and Finance. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

The course is not available to students on the MSc in Accounting, Organisations and Institutions programme.

The course is capped to one section of 55 students. Students on the waiting list will be admitted on a first-come first-served basis.

There are no specific pre-requisites and the course does not require a background in accounting.

This course examines the fast changing practices and institutions of accounting in the global economy, with a particular emphasis on the roles of accounting in global financial governance. International accounting and auditing standards have been advocated as a way of enhancing global financial stability, so as to stimulate the flow of cross-national investment, expand the scope for market-oriented development, and integrate local enterprises into global financial markets. This course critically examines dynamics of accounting regulation, including international standard-setting and consequences for financial statement users, business entities and wider local and global stakeholders. In this context, we will also explore issues related to global sustainability reporting and standardisation.

Topics include:

Political, institutional and economic influences in changing national and international financial reporting frameworks. The political economy of accounting standard-setting. The work of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the European Union, national accounting bodies, and their political and economic environments. The rise of concerns with sustainability reporting and standard-setting.

The effects of national financial reporting requirements and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on business entities and economic development, particularly developing and emerging economies (including the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China). The enforcement of financial reporting requirements through auditors, securities regulators, the World Bank and others.

Specific technical challenges (for example, transfer pricing, fair value accounting, impairment testing, derivatives and other financial instruments, sustainability reporting and standardisation).

The course explores issues from different theoretical perspectives through comparative empirical analysis.

Teaching is delivered in two weekly 90-minute sessions over 10 weeks across Winter Term. Each session draws on a variety of academic readings, practical exercises, and case analyses. 

This course has no regular teaching in Week 6 of WT. 

It is further intended to run a small number of additional sessions with invited speakers who are centrally involved at a senior level in the setting, enforcement and convergence of international accounting regulations. Further details will be provided at the start of the session.

Students are expected to come to each session prepared having done the assigned readings and having prepared the assigned class discussion questions. 

Detailed reading lists will be given out at the start of the session, and are largely based on academic journal articles. Other readings include academic cases, policy briefings, regulatory documents and green and white papers.

Relevant books:

• Camfferman & Zeff, Aiming for Global Accounting Standards, 2001-2011 (Oxford University Press, 2018);
• Botzem, The Politics of Accounting Regulation (Edward Elgar, 2012);
• Ramanna, Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy (University of Chicago Press, 2015);
• Djelic & Quack, Transnational Communities: Shaping Global Economic Governance (Cambridge University Press, 2010);
• Nobes & Parker, Comparative International Accounting (Pearson, 2020);
• Weetman, Tsalavoutas & Gordon, International Corporate Reporting (Routledge 2020);
• Weetman & Tsalavoutas (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Accounting in Emerging Economies (Routledge, 2020);
• Walter, Governing Finance: East Asia's Adoption of International Standards (Cornell University Press, 2008).

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the spring exam period.