Standardizing Financial Reporting Regulation: What Implications for Varieties of Capitalism?

Abstract

Financial reporting is a powerful practice that shapes social and economic processes. This paper argues that there are fundamental reasons against current attempts to establish a single set of global financial reporting standards, moreover tailored to the needs of stock marketbased capitalism. Evidence shows that there exists more than one way of doing business. Social market economy, for instance, is one of the founding principles of the European Union. Standardizing financial reporting onto a single economic model could therefore harm alternative forms of capitalism. It is at time of great uncertainty and change that the advantages of variety can be appreciated. Consistent with this view, this paper claims that the optimal design of financial reporting regulation should depend on the specific institutional characteristics of the economic and political systems.