The purpose of this essay is to discuss the benefits of having international accounting standards, the reasons for national differences, and the difficulties in reaching agreement on standards. International standards have many advantages. Firstly, this essay will only examine 4 advantages, namely comparability, credibility, principles and discipline. Second, this essay will expose three national differences and assess their difficulties in reaching agreement. Finally a conclusion. Comparability is an accounting principle. Fundamental accounting reports must be reliable; if they are not reliable, it is not comparable. If the company cannot make a comparison, then the accounts are written down. For example, the Financial Accounting Standards Board requires that expenses associated with research and development (R&D) be expensed when incurred, but some companies expense R&D when performed. While other companies reported it on the balance sheet and expensed it at a later date. Additionally, accounts must be reliable and standardized so that investment decision-makers can make valid inter-company comparisons. To make this comparison meaningful, the accounts are prepared according to the guidelines established by the financial reporting standards. Credibility is linked to similar events, which produce similar results. If companies held a similar event in order to produce financial reports revealing completely different results, the company could lose credibility because companies may choose different accounting policies. It is important that the financial statements give a true and fair view. Discipline contributes to investor protection and is linked to the supervisory board. The obligatory standard...... middle of paper ...... words have different meanings. The tax system in France and Germany is different from that of the United Kingdom and the United States. In France and Germany, their taxes are levied on account profits, so the tax becomes accounting rules, whereas the UK and US tax and accounting rules are separate because it helps the user. For example, in France and Germany, depreciation would be charged against profit, meaning that everything the tax rules say must be stated in the accounts. A British accountant will say that this does not reflect a true and fair view, even if it is legal. However, in the UK depreciation will be charged separately from profit. Since depreciation can be carried forward to the balance sheet and expensed at a later date. The tax system makes it difficult to reach an international agreement because there can be misinterpretation of the different tax rules used..