Accounting standards around the world have evolved over centuries of business and capital market development. In this process, accounting standards historically were designed to meet the needs of each nation’s capital markets. Those stan- dards that were found to work well in the legal, cultural, political and economic context of each nation became the “generally accepted accounting principles,” or GAAP, for that particular jurisdiction. Naturally, different norms in each nation led to different GAAPs in each nation. The growing dynamic of globalization presented a challenge to these “legacy systems.” Global protocols for the internet, electronic payments, software sys- tems and cargo shipping.
