IAS/UK GAAP Comparison: A Comparison Between IAS and UK Accounting Principles, by

the Financial Reporting Group of Ernst Young, International Accounting Standards

Committee/Ernst & Young, London, 2001, xxix + 793 pp.

This useful reference volume has been prepared along the lines of the two GAAP

comparison books that were reported in the Capsule Commentary section in Vol. 36, No. 2

of this journal. The core of the book consists of a detailed comparison of UK GAAP and

IASC standards on facing pages, and in an opening chapter, the regulatory background to UK

and IASC financial reporting is discussed. Almost one-fifth of the book is devoted to a

concluding chapter in which the principal differences between UK GAAP and IASC

standards are summarized.

The authoritative treatise appears at an opportune time, as the old IASC board has now

been replaced by the IASB.

Stephen A. Zeff

Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management

Rice University, P.O. Box 1892

Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA

Tel.: +1-713-348-6066

Fax: +1-713-348-5251

E-mail address: sazeff@rice.edu

PII: S0020-7063(01)00110-8

International accounting standards: survey 2000

by David Cairns, International Financial Reporting (www.cairns.co.uk), Henley-on-Thames,

Oxfordshire, UK, 2001, xii+371 pp. (£250/US$370/�420)This is the second edition of David Cairns’ immensely valuable survey of the use of IASC

standards around the world. This edition is one third longer than its predecessor, yet it is

much more reasonably priced (£250 versus £650).

In this second edition, Cairns found that 102 (62%) of 165 companies that referred to the

use of IAS in their financial statements actually complied fully with the IAS. That compares

with 54% of the 125 companies he surveyed the previous year. He observes that ‘‘‘IAS lite’ is

alive and well’’ (p. 2). He also found that the auditors of more than one third of the surveyed

companies did not report on compliance with IAS.

As he notes, by 2005, the European Union will require all listed companies to publish IAS

financial statements. Yet, he adds, only 20% of the FTSE’s Eurotop 300 companies currently

uses IAS. Otherwise put, almost 250 of Europe’s largest companies will have to change their

financial reporting in time for the deadline. ‘‘This is an immense challenge,’’ he writes, ‘‘for

the companies, their auditors, and, indeed, the users of their financial statements’’ (p. 3).

Capsule commentaries376

Cairns’ survey is rich in detail and covers 26 countries (plus Hong Kong). Of the 165

companies included in the study, all but 22 are European. Introductory chapters deal with the

nature and role of the IASC, IOSCO, the SEC, and the EU, and also explain the sources of

national GAAP and its relation with IAS in each of the 27 jurisdictions as well as in others not

covered by the survey. Instances of noncompliance with IAS are analyzed both by company

and by the relevant IASC standard.

Stephen A. Zeff

Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management

Rice University, PO Box 1892

Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA

Tel.: +1-713-348-6066

Fax: +1-713-348-5251

E-mail address: sazeff@rice.edu

PII: S0020-7063(01)00111-X

Capsule commentaries 377