Process of IFRS development, endorsement and enforcement

The doctoral thesis examines process of IFRS development, endorsement and enforcement from the perspective of accounting regulation on global scale, identifies nature of IFRS due process in all its phases and compares IFRS due process with accounting regulation in Czech Republic, especially with legislative process of creating Czech accounting legislation. The due process of any accounting rules, whether standards or legislation, determines quality of these rules and consequently also potential level quality of financial statements prepared in accordance with such rules. Process of IFRS development and endorsement is to guarantee quality of standards that are the output of such a process. For global accounting harmonization, which requires transparent, reliable and comparable information in financial reporting across countries of the world, the IFRS due process is essential. The whole process of IFRS development, endorsement and enforcement, which develops IFRS as global accounting standards, also is connected with several obstacles associated to political and social aspects as well as to cultural differentiation. In the thesis the legal systems, as determinants of the nature of accounting regulation, are used for analysis and identification of possible natures of accounting regulation from global perspective. For global accounting regulation it is necessary its acceptance by major interested parties, specification of the range of entities for which it is meaningful and desirable, establishment of an independent, reliable and respected international professional organization in the role of standard-setter and development of a sophisticated, transparent and comprehensive standard setting process. Besides the thorough analysis of particular phases of IFRS due process, the thesis also maps current acceptance of IFRS in the world and describes endorsement process in Europe Union applied for the adoption of IFRS within its area, what provides an integrated view of current evolution in global accounting harmonization. Global accounting regulation, which requires the adoption and application of IFRS in their original range, still faces many obstacles. Less than half countries of G20 (ie 9 countries) requires the use of IFRS in their original form for listed companies. Problem with such acceptance of IFRS especially have the countries with tradition based on Roman law (continental European legal culture), where the creation of rules is exclusive subject to state. Quantitative analysis of IFRS due process performed on three selected projects of IASB agenda is a core of application part of the thesis. On the basis on the timeline the analysis follows particular steps of IFRS due process, especially from the perspective of particular comment periods quantified through the comments received, not only in number but also the composition of comments by geographical region and respondent type. The analysis showed the due process as complicated and time-consuming process leading to global consensus of opinions and also showed the importance of compliance of its complexity, which leads to general agreement on adopted solutions and to global acceptance of these solutions by all of the interested parties. The analysis of IASB due process leads into its comparison with legislative process of creating accounting legislation in Czech Republic. The comparison of both of the processes enables to identify the weaknesses of Czech due process and provides specific recommendations for its improvement and increase efficiency. From the perspective of nature of accounting regulation the delegation of creating accounting rules from the state to the accounting profession is important especially to strengthen the quality, understanding and acceptance of accounting rules, which can be effectively ensured through the due process different from that legislative. The IFRS due process is an inspiration in this case