Globalisation and the Role of Financial Accounting Information in Japan

The METI Study Group on the Internationalisation of Business Accounting issued a report in 2004 claiming that the accounting standards under JP-GAAP should be accepted as equal to those under IFRS and even closer to US-GAAP.
Part 1 of this study investigated the role of internationalisation of business, financial and capital markets in the process of convergence between JP-GAAP and US-GAAP.
Part 2 assessed the extent of the above mentioned convergence.
Part 3 empirically explored economic rationales for voluntary disclosure practiced by Japanese companies between 1985 and 2003.
Below follow a discussion of the findings in each of the three parts, and recommendations for further research.