Contextual Framework: The Influence of Global Convergence on the Japanese Accounting System

本研究考察了日本会计环境的主要特征，并讨论了日本与其他国家相比采取谨慎趋同方法的主要原因。本研究的结果提供证据表明，要求日本所有上市公司采用国际财务报告准则是有问题的。其主要原因是日本决策者和标准制定机构遵循两个目标：提高财务报告的国际可比性，保持财务报告与其他基础设施（如会计相关法律）之间的制度互补性。换句话说，主要发现表明，日本的商业和会计制度是通过将英美模式与日本传统模式相结合，创造出一种日本特有的趋同风格而形成的。

This study examined the main features of the Japanese accounting environment and discussed the main reasons why Japan has adopted a cautious convergence approach in contrast to other countries. The findings of this study provide evidence that it would be problematic to require the adoption of IFRS for all listed companies in Japan. The main reason for this is that the Japanese policymakers and standard-setting bodies follow two objectives: enhancing the international comparability of financial reporting and maintaining institutional complementarity between financial reporting and other infrastructures such as accounting-related laws. In other words, the main finding shows that the Japanese business and accounting systems have been formed by integrating the Anglo-American model with the traditional Japanese model to create a Japanese-specific style of convergence.