The growing globalization of business operations, and hence the need of investors for transparent and comparable financial information, are what call for the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Today IFRSs are accepted accounting standards in more than 100 countries around the world. Every single EU member state prescribes the application of IFRS for companies listed on the stock exchange, while countries such as India, Canada and Korea are also in the process of switching over.

In the US there is a harmonization project in progress, melding IFRS and US GAAP. The main purpose of the project is a single set of high quality, comprehensive financial reporting standards to be used by public companies throughout the world. According to the current legislation in effect in the US, there is no requirement to use IFRS, but it is recommended to provide an option for adopting IFRS for preparing financial statements for listed entities.