1. Comparability
‘Comparability’ is a very difficult notion to understand even within a country, let alone globally. We have
not really had much literature that helps us understand what is meant by comparability—when we have it, and
when we do not. The view originating in the United States and now cited widely is that comparability is
achieved by assuring that ‘like things look alike, and unlike things look different’ (Trueblood, 1966, p. 189).
But in accounting what are ‘things’? And how do we perceive and identify ‘like’ and ‘unlike’ things?
Accounting is an artefact, not articles of furniture or draperies. I will elaborate on this difficulty in the course
of my remarks.
Since 2005, when the IAS regulation of 2002 went into effect, some 8000 listed companies in the European
Union (EU) are now preparing their consolidated financial statements by the use of International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS).1 Scores of other countries around the world have also signed on to IFRS. I think
it is a widely shared opinion that there has suddenly been a very great increase in global comparability in
relation to what we had before, namely, every country using its own national standards, which differed
considerably from country to country. Nevertheless, I would like to strike a note of caution that future
progress in enhancing comparability may be difficult to achieve and that one needs to be concerned about the
future course of convergence across international borders.