Study On The International Harmonization Of US GAAP

With the accelerated progress of economic globalization and the increasing development of international capital markets, the advocation of international harmonization and even the global convergence of accounting standards is on the upsurge. And the US FASB has promoted its harmonization with the IASB actively and achieved progressive productions in recent years, which has a far-reaching effect on the development of worldwide accounting and the establishment and international harmonization of accounting standards.The US has a very long history of constituting accounting standards and its standard-setting institution has experienced important changes for three times. The establishment of US GAAP has undergone a complicated and gradually improving process which took on the unique characteristics.With the changes of the American economic environment and the rapid development of IFRS, the harmonization between US GAAP and IFRS has also undergone a complicated and changeful process: from negative and disparaging attitude at the beginning, to looking on and resisting later, then to taking the initiative now. Since 2002, FASB has adopted a series of actions to promote its harmonization with IASB actively, and the core strategy for commonly establishing a set of high-quality global accounting standards is to undertake the convergence projects with IASB.However, although the cooperative attitude of the US towards the convergence between US GAAP and IFRS is very clear and sincere, there are still many obstacles on this convergence road, and it's unknown that how long the road will be. Based on analysis of the motivators and impediments of harmonization, this paper researches on the scope and strategy of the further harmonization of US GAAP and IFRS and tries to forecast the future of international harmonization of US GAAP.Finally, by analyzing the backgrounds of the strategies of international harmonization of Chinese accounting standards which are different from those of the US, some implications are provided as follows: we should enhance the economic strength and improve the accounting system; actively participate in the work of IASB to acquire more voice in it and to affect IFRS's convergence toward us; establish and improve a set of concept framework consistent with that of IFRS; establish a long-term strategy and mechanism for convergence with IFRS to formulate the steps, scope and depth of the international harmonization of Chinese accounting standards.