First Name:
James
Last Name:
Brown
Major Department:
Accounting
Thesis Director:
Ken Brackney
Date of Thesis:
May 2011
Several events since the turn of the twenty-first century have motivated the United .. States to pursue fundamental change in the nature of its accounting standards. These events have included the Enron scandal and the ongoing convergence initiative between the standard setting body in the United States, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). This report examines such events and compares the United States' rules-based standards to internationally-used principles-based standards by explaining their advantages and disadvantages and their treatment of particular accounting circumstances. This report also examines the current state of the adoption of principles-based standards in the United States and describes what should be expected in the future regarding this issue.