Multinational Financial Accounting

Written for both corporate accountants and advanced students of accounting, this volume offers comprehensive coverage of multinational financial accounting issues. As Ahmed Riahi-Belkaoui explains at the outset, multinational financial accounting is the branch of accounting developed to accommodate the specific international accounting needs of multinational corporations that are not met by their national accounting systems. Among the specific topics he addresses are the dimensions of multinational financial accounting, the efforts underway to harmonize international standards, the international environment within which multinational firms operate, and specific multinational financial accounting practices. Throughout, Riahi-Belkaoui emphasizes both theoretical concerns and practical solutions to multinational financial accounting problems.

The book begins by describing the nature of the emerging global economy and the challenges it poses for accountancy. Subsequent chapters address accounting for foreign currency transactions, futures contracts, and other financial instruments; illustrate the management of translation exposure; and examine accounting for inflation proposals. Riahi-Belkaoui goes on to explore accounting for inflation internationally and includes a separate appendix of illustrative calculations to compute current cost/constant purchasing power information. Finally, the author reviews segmental reporting and value-added reporting within the multinational financial accounting context.

AHMED R. RIAHI-BELKAOUI is Professor of Accounting at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has written some twenty previous books on accounting subjects including Multinational Management Accounting (Quorum, 1991), Cost Accounting: Theory and Practice (Quorum, 1991), Judgment in International Accounting (Quorum, 1990), and Human Information Processing in Accounting (Quorum, 1989).