SWEDISH ACCOUNTING REGULATIONS
Until the Second World War, Sweden’s regulations were oriented towards the central European Tradition. The post-war era, however, was marked by a shift towards the Anglo-American framework. Two reasons have been given to explain this shift: 1) rapid internationalization of all Nordic enterprises, which saw more and more trade being conducted with the western world, and 2) rapid diversification of ownership and the development of the Nordic stock exchanges.
The emergence of the European Community (EC) brought about another shift in accounting regulation, this time it was a harmonization process amongst the 12 members of the EC. Sweden implemented EC directives in its legislation in 1995, and the directives were given legal status on December 31, 1996. Under the EC, member states were to abide by International Accounting Standards (IAS) beginning in the 2005FY; however, this change was not all that drastic for Swedish entities seeing as many Swedish standards were direct translations of IAS. Therefore, while the use of IAS was not compulsory until 2005, many of the IAS standards were already partly being used going as far back as 1991, and several IAS were directly translated by 2001. In order to comply with the unique situation of Sweden, and all individual EC members, minor national changes were permitted to IAS.
WHY THE WHOLESALE FOOD INDUSTRY
The wholesale food industry seemed to be a good selection, because it is a prominent industry in both Sweden and the USA that houses many competitors. Thus, further studies on this industry could reveal whether or not there are differences reflecting country specific decisions, or whether differences reflect individual company choices. This in ...