Dr Andrea Mennicken, OLD 3.12 and Dr Kazbi Soonawalla, OLD 2.16

The course is intended for students on the MSc Accounting, Organisations and Institutions, MSc Law and Accounting, MSc Accounting and Finance, MSc International Political Economy, MSc Development Management, MSc Management and Regulation of Risk, MSc Risk and Finance, MSc Management and Strategy, MPA Public and Economic Policy/MPA Public Policy and Management/MPA International Development/MPA European Public and Economic Policy/MPA Public and Social Policy, and Diploma in Accounting and Finance. Other students may be admitted with the permission of the teacher responsible.

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 international standard-setting and consequences for financial statement users, business entities and wider local and global stakeholders.

Topics include:

Political, institutional and technical 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 European Union, national accounting bodies, and their political and economic environments.

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

Specific technical challenges (for example, mergers and acquisitions, foreign currency transactions, derivatives and other financial instruments, fair value accounting and intangible assets).

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

18 hours of lectures in the first term (MT), and a two-hour revision lecture in the ST. Classes: at least eight hours. It is intended to run a small number of lectures with invited speakers who are centrally involved at a senior level in the setting, enforcement and convergence of international financial reporting regulations. Further details will be provided at the start of the session.

Students are required to write an assessed essay of 3,500-4,000 words, to be submitted after the Christmas break. This written work forms 40% of the assessment. Individual feedback will be given on essay outlines. Further readings, exercises and case studies are set for class discussion each week.

Camfferman & Zeff, Financial Reporting and Global Capital Markets: A History of the International Accounting Standards Committee (Oxford University Press, 2006); Chapman, Cooper & Miller, Accounting, Organizations and Institutions (Oxford University Press, 2009); Djelic & Quack, Transnational Communities: Shaping Global Economic Governance (Cambridge University Press, 2010); Bowden & Seabrooke, Global Standards of Market Civilization (Routledge, 2006); Roberts, Weetman & Gordon, International Corporate Reporting: A Comparative Approach (Prentice Hall, 2008); Nobes & Parker, Comparative International Accounting (Prentice Hall, 2012); Walter, Governing Finance: East Asia's Adoption of International Standards (Cornell University Press, 2008); Walton & Aerts, Global Financial Accounting and Reporting (Cengage, 2009).

A 3,500-4,000 word essay (40%), submitted after the Christmas break, and a one-and-a-half-hour written examination in the Summer Term (60%).