Implementing the EU accounting directives in Sweden — practitioners' views

Abstract

Sweden legislated in 1995 to implement the European Union (EU) directives relating to harmonization of accounting. This article reports the results of an empirical study, based upon interviews and a questionnaire survey, on the attitudes of Swedish practitioners to the harmonizing legislation and to the current state of Swedish accounting. The research finds that the Germanic influence on Swedish accounting is lessening in importance, with a likely weakening of the close link between taxation and accounting and a perception amongst practitioners of the increasing importance of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) and US influences.