7. Accounting regulation and develo

7. Accounting regulation and development
Mashayekhi and Mashayekh (2008) examined the development of accounting in Iran.
Their study confirms the audit organization has played its role in developing national
accounting standards which follows the publication of IASs and translation of relevant
documents them. In addition, their results indicate that tax law, corporate law
and stock exchange regulations are considered as factors that have a great impact on
the accounting practice in Iran. Daniel and Suranova (2001) found that the Slovak
Ministry of Finance played a key role in the development of accounting practices and
regulation. It co-operated with the Slovak accounting profession to prepare the legal
acts concerning accounting. Furthermore, the Slovak accounting profession is involved
in developing accounting education in both universities and pre-university and in
preparing the accounting standards. In addition, it plays a role in introducing and
official translating of IASs in the country. Their results also show that the profession’s
licence is obtained by undertaking an official examination. Further, the findings
indicate that the Slovak accounting practice is influenced by the commercial code and
accounting law which is generally based on IASs.
Al-Qahtani (2005) indicates that the regulation of the accounting profession is still
influenced by the codes of commercial laws in all the GCC countries except the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia, which regulates its accounting profession by the power of Government
by giving authority to the Saudi Organisation for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA)
(including reviewing, preparing and endorsing of accounting standards). In the same
countries Al-Shammari et al. (2007) found that the governments of the GCC countries are
involved in regulation of the financial reports and they control the accounting and
auditing professions. In addition, their findings indicate that among the professional
accounting bodies which exist in the GCC countries, only the SOCPA and the Kuwait
Accounting and Auditing Association have roles in the development of local accounting
standards. Furthermore, all of the professional accounting bodies have no regulatory
authorities to license accountants and auditors.
The findings of Al-Akra et al. (2009) show that the accounting profession which is
regulated by the Jordanian Association of Certified Public Accountants has played an
important role in facilitating the adoption of IASs/IFRS by providing explanation of
these standards. This resulted in enacting laws such as company law and securities
law which called for the adoption and enforcement of IAS/IFRS, enhancing the
disclosure quality of Jordanian listed firms. The findings reveal that accounting
practices have been largely influenced by laws such as tax law and government