Book excerpt: Understanding reporting standards issued by the IASB is essential for those who prepare and/or interpret financial statements and are required to comply with the increasingly complex set of international accounting and financial reporting standards. The International Accounting/Financial Reporting Standards Guide is your survival handbook in today's global economy. It keeps you up-to-date on the latest general and industry-specific international reporting standards and the proposed changes on your immediate horizon that will most likely alter the way in which you must account for and disclose information.