Viewpoint: Ethical standards or accounting standards for developing countries: which one should come first?

Abstract

With the formation of the International Accounting Standards Committee in the 1970s the natural progression in the 1980s was to bring together developing and underdeveloped nations in the path towards standardization. What the standard‐setting body wished to do was to introduce these countries to the codified set of international accounting standards. Raises the key question of priority. Should the focus of international accounting bodies with regard to the needs of developing countries be on harmonization or standardization of accounts in the coming decade, or should it be on developing the proper and ethical environment for sound business practices? Puts forward the belief, based on personal experience, that imposing international accounting standards on developing countries, at this time, is still hasty and immature.