International Financial Analysis and Comparative Corporate Performance: The Impact of UK versus US Accounting Principles on Earnings*

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which there are systematic differences between UK and US accounting principles likely to give rise to significant quantitative differences in earnings and assessments of comparative corporate performance. The results of the empirical analysis provide evidence of a systematically more conservative bias in earnings measurement under US accounting principles. The most frequently occurring differences were found to be those dealing with amortisation of goodwill and with provision for deferred taxation. However, the dominant effect on earnings was accounted for by the different treatment of goodwill.