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European Accounting Model

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Submitted By misherj
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Advances in Accounting, incorporating Advances in International Accounting 29 (2013) 124–133

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Advances in Accounting, incorporating Advances in
International Accounting journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/adiac

Continental European accounting model and accounting modernization in Germany
Andreas Hellmann ⁎, Hector Perera 1, Chris Patel 2
Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Keywords:
Convergence
German Commercial Code
(Handelsgesetzbuch)
International Financial Reporting Standards
Act to Modernize Accounting Law
(Bilanzrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz)
Classification of accounting systems

a b s t r a c t
Classification techniques based on one or few dimensions are widely used in research studies and textbooks to explain and predict the development of accounting systems internationally. However, their usefulness in international accounting has been limited in today's globalized world. For example, in the context of the
EU, IFRS are required for consolidated accounting, while national accounting systems continue to be the dominant system for unconsolidated accounting in many countries. Using Germany as a case study, the objective of this paper is to examine whether Germany can still be classified within the Continental European model of accounting following the Act to Modernize Accounting Law (Bilanzrechts-modernisierungsgesetz — BilMoG), which was promulgated on May 29, 2009. This Act introduced some major reforms to the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch — HGB), such as removing the close connection to tax rules and introducing new recognition and valuation regulations, which changed traditional principles of orderly accounting
(Grundsätze

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