IAS 2005 - Consequences for Swedish Group Accounting

Abstract

Background: There are several differences among international accounting, due to this, a number of bodies are working toward accounting harmonisation, for example, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the European Union (EU). During the last years, questions concerning accounting have been discussed even more. To enhance the international accounting harmonisation, in 2002, the EU issued a Regulation which requires an application of the International Accounting Standards (IAS) from 1 January 2005 for all listed companies in the Union in their consolidated reports.

Problem: Most people believe that an international harmonisation of accounting standards will be positive, while others talk about the negative consequences of adapting the IAS. Today, there are several differences between the RR 1:00 (the Swedish recommendation for group accounting) and the corresponding IAS, which will affect Swedish group accounting when Sweden change-over to the IAS. Furthermore, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the IASB have agreed to co-operate, which in turn might affect the IAS and consequently, Swedish accounting. Due to the several differences between the RR 1:00 and the corresponding IAS, and the IASB ED 3 on Business Combinations, we have chosen to concentrate this study on the changes concerning RR 1:00. Our main problem for this thesis is: How will the regulation of Swedish group accounting be affected by the EU:s adaptation to the International Accounting Standards in 2005?

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to study how Swedish group accounting will be affected by the European Union’s adaptation to the International Accounting Standards in 2005.

Limitation: We will only study RR1:00 and not the other Swedish recommendations that concern a group of companies. Furthermore, we will only study the corresponding parts of the IAS 22, the IAS 27 and the ED3.

Method: This thesis is a qualitative study which includes both primary and secondary data. Our primary data consists of interviews, differences between the RR 1:00, the corresponding IAS and the ED 3. Our secondary data consists of literature, articles and the internet.

Analysis and Conclusions: There will be changes in the Swedish accounting regulation for listed companies in 2005, due to current differences between the RR 1:00 and the IAS 22 and 27, and possibly also due to proposed changes in the IAS. The main positive and negative effects caused by the conversion seem to be that Swedish companies more easily will be able to attract foreign investors, but it will also lead to costs when implementing the new system. The reasons for the decision to change to the IAS in the EU, the IASB-FASB co-operation, the role of the IASB/EU in the process towards global accounting and the future of the RR are discussed.

Suggestions for Future Studies: We think that it would be interesting to study how Swedish group accounting and Swedish companies really will be affected by the adaptation to the IAS, to what extent the EU:s accounting will become more homogeneous, and how the co-operation between the FASB and the IASB will develop and if/how it has affected accounting in the EU.