rences that still impede international cohesiveness are demonstrated by this investigation into differences that occur between the United States, France and the United Kingdom.
             Differences in Accounting Practices Between the United States, France, and the United Kingdom Illustrated with Conversions to IFRS from National GAAP:
             In France, the state has always played a major role in regulating accounting practices. Creditor protection has always been a primary concern. The country has traditionally tended towards "historic cost accounting modified by a prudent attitude that understates profits and assets" (Tyrrall, 2005), a direct contrast to IFRS which favors fair values. These tendencies have been further strengthened by the close relationship between accounting profit and taxable profit. Since the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) was developed primarily in an Anglo-American environment, it is not surprising that the primary goal of financial statements created under IFRS is to provide financial information to investors, as opposed to Franco standards and their creditor-centric focus.
             With Europe's transition to IFRS, an unusual opportunity presented itself in discovering whether there is any difference in value relevance of accounting information or not. George Kontopoulos, at Case Business School, researched 200 companies, including 50 from France and 50 from the UK, across the transition period from 2003 to 2006. Pre-transition period findings were contrary to expectations. French financial statements, during this period, appeared to be more value relevant than those in the United Kingdom (as cited in Tyrrall, 2005).
             Tyrall's (2005) study of early adopters of IFRS further highlights the effects of differences in accounting practices, represented by Faurecia, who had previously utilized French GAAP, Nokia, who had previously utilized US GAAP, and AstraZeneca, who had used both UK and US GAA...