Since the European Union’s 2002 regulation

mandating IFRS for EU public companies and

the execution of the Norwalk Agreement by
FASB and the International Accounting
Standards Board (IASB), momentum has been
building for global standards convergence.
Currently, more than 100 countries have
adopted IFRS, and a number of other
economically important countries, including
Japan and the United States, have programs
in place to converge their national standards
with IFRS. IASB Chairman Sir David Tweedie
has said that by December 2011, U.S. GAAP
and IFRS “should be pretty much the same.”
At that point, about 150 countries would be
using very similar accounting standards,
though some countries have adopted versions
of IFRS that vary from IFRS as published by
the IASB. In 2007 the SEC extended the
question beyond mere convergence by
accepting the English language version of
IFRS by foreign issuers without reconciliation.
And in November the SEC released a
proposed road map that could require a
phased adoption of IFRS by U.S. issuers
beginning in 2014, dependent in part on
whether seven milestones are achieved. In
the road map, which has a comment period
ending Feb. 19, it is noted that, “The
Commission has long expressed its support
for a single set of high-quality global
accounting standards as an important means
of enhancing comparability.”
This article points out that even among
countries that have adopted the same version
of IFRS, recent accounting research suggests
that two factors—national culture and
language translation—could undermine the
rigorous interpretation and application of IFRS
and lead to a lack of comparability across
countries. The objective of this article is to
highlight two significant hurdles that impede
the consistent interpretation and application
of converged standards: the influence of
national culture on the interpretation of
standards and the difficulty of translating
standards into other languages.

Pengertian IFRS
IFRS merupakan standar akuntansi
internasional yang diterbitkan
oleh International Accounting Standard
Board (IASB). Standar Akuntansi
Internasional (International Accounting
Standards/IAS) disusun oleh empat organisasi
utama dunia yaitu Badan Standar Akuntansi
Internasional (IASB), Komisi Masyarakat Eropa
(EC), Organisasi Internasional Pasar Modal
(IOSOC), dan Federasi Akuntansi
Internasioanal (IFAC).
Badan Standar Akuntansi Internasional (IASB)
yang dahulu bernama Komisi Standar
Akuntansi Internasional (AISC), merupakan
lembaga independen untuk menyusun
standar akuntansi. Organisasi ini memiliki
tujuan mengembangkan dan mendorong
penggunaan standar akuntansi global yang
berkualitas tinggi, dapat dipahami dan dapat
diperbandingkan (Choi et al., 1999 dalam
Intan Immanuela, puslit2.petra.ac.id)