The idea that a single set of accounting standards would provide an important aid for external
investors to evaluate the performance of companies across national boundaries is well established.
Long standing prevailing arrangements such as the US requirement for foreign registrants to provide
a detailed reconciliation with US GAAP (i.e., 20-F forms) is an obvious example of the view that it is
essential for investors to have a set of financial statements in their own ‘‘language” (i.e., prepared under
standards with which they are most familiar).4 However, there are at least two sets of empirical
findings that call into question just how useful and/or important such practices really are.