Contextualizing the harmonization of accounting standards for foreign currency translation

The one-dimensional view of power is evident in the development of foreign currency accounting standards. Particular multinational corporations (MNCs) exhibited the power to exert their influence over the preferences of other MNCs as they sought to influence the deliberations over the specific provisions of the standards. Conflict among the MNCs as they strived to preserve their preferred methods and engage others to adopt or accept those methods is indicative of one entity getting another entity to do what they otherwise would not do. The results of the deliberation over the standards for foreign currency accounting indicate that those MNCs whose preferences for accounting methods and treatments that were adopted by standard-setting bodies were successful in exerting their power to influence others.;By the establishment of networks and enrolling the Support of the standard-setting bodies, the MNCs were able to stabilize the relations necessary for exercising their power. The resistance exhibited by the MNCs and other interested parties also contributed to the eventual outcomes in the provisions of the standards.;Consistent with the three-dimensional view of power, the discourse on harmonization influenced standard-setters, MNCs, and other interested parties to not merely develop foreign currency standards but also to harmonize these standards with other countries. Thus, accounting standards for foreign currency are the result of a fabrication process involving networks of alliances used to stabilize relations in order to exert power, the resistances to specific provisions that refabricated the standards, and the power exerted through the discourse on harmonization of accounting rules to influence the outcomes of deliberations over foreign currency accounting standards.