Letter From the Editor

• Date: 01 September 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.21980
• Published date: 01 September 2014

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© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI 10.1002/jcaf.21980

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Dear JCAF Reader,

This issue of JCAF focuses

on current international

accounting, finance, and busi-

ness concerns—and what to do

about them.

Nigeria has been all over

the news lately. A terrorist kid-

napping has once again raised

serious concerns for firms con-

ducting business in Nigeria.

But perhaps a more insidious

problem involves corruption

risk. Risk management expert

David Shapiro warns that Nige-

rian business is not for the unin-

formed. But he outlines some

key problems companies face

and suggests some countermea-

sures. Be sure to read his article,

“Doing Business in Nigeria.”

Many argue that interna-

tional business needs one set

of unified financial reporting

standards. But are we really any

closer to that goal? True, there

has been an ongoing conver-

gence process between Inter-

national Financial Reporting

Standards (IFRS) and U.S. gen-

erally accepted accounting prin-

ciples (U.S. GAAP). But prog-

ress has been frustratingly slow.

Authors Oscar J. Holzmann and

Paul Munter take a close look

at the current situation in their

article, “Convergence: What Do

We Have After 10-Plus Years?”

Authors James B. Edwards

and Timothy L. Baker also agree

that converging countries’ dif-

ferent views on accounting stan-

dards and audit regulations was

an admirable goal. But, if any-

thing, they say the differences

have been increasing—building

a growing wall that blocks com-

promise and impairs progress.

This divergence may lead to

more costly financial report-

ing and additional independent

audit costs for many interna-

tional companies. So what is

ahead? Find out in their article,

“The Outlook as Financial Con-

vergence Falters.”

And don’t miss all the other

useful and insightful articles in

this issue:

• “Global Web Auditing

Standards: Time for a

Change?”

• “New IFRS Research

Center: Hope for Better

Standards”

• “Making Better Offshoring

and Onshoring Decisions”

• “M&A: The Incredible

Shrinking U.S. PC Industry”

• “Can Accountants Demys-

tify Derivatives?”

• “Managing Costs and Inno-

vation With CPM”

• “Business Strategy—

Creation, Execution, and

Monetization”

Of course, as always, we

also bring you the latest book

reviews and news of develop-

ments at the FASB, the IRS,

and the SEC.

Sincerely,

Edward J. Stone

Editor

JCAF

L etter From the Editor