In order to start with the development of the subject, a brief introduction of the current neoliberal globalizing model must be clarified, or more than clarified, since it is from there that the current globalization policies of the accounting profession are derived.
The globalization process integrates at least three major markets:
1. The market of transnational companies, where by listing the nations according to their gross domestic product, the 15th country is called General Motors, in 1994 the GDP of El Salvador was 8,070 million dollars, in the same year, Mitsubitshi's turnover was 175.8 billion dollars.
2. The financial market, this market mobilizes 1.2 trillion dollars daily, to carry it in a much more graphic way, it is equivalent to saying that in 4 days of international bank transfers, more money is manipulated than all the production created by the economy of The United States in a year, or by the world economy in a month.
3. The means of social communication, which serve globalization, transmitting facts, events and interpretations, creating a new culture to produce, earn and consume.
These three great markets are interdependent, they interact with each other, allowing the globalization process to take place, a process that not only encompasses or means the homogenization of the mode of production in the world, but also cultural uniformity.
This globalizing process is defined in some parameters, which are the basis of globalization, it is what gives shape to globalization, on which the entire political and economic system of the postmodern world is founded:
1. The “Hypertrophy” of international finance and the global creation of credit are placed in a privileged place.
2. Internationalization of capital through global corporations.
3. The growing power of international capital agencies, such as the IMF, WB, WTO.
4. The rapid movements of financial capital accelerated by new information technologies.
5. Growth of world trade.
As already mentioned, these parameters are very important, but something more is needed, something that allows or facilitates a much more reliable and timely information management, and that is where Accounting comes in.
It is necessary that the accounting - financial information in the different countries be uniform, and this is taking place through the standardization of accounting practice.
To get into the central theme of the work, we start from two interrelated assumptions:
1. That the world is going, by leaps and bounds, towards a globalization of the economy, a topic that was dealt with in the introductory part.
2. That it would be desirable for the information offered through the financial statements to be based on standards of reasonable uniformity.
It is considered that the first premise, in order to improve the quality of accounting information, in relation to the globalization of the economy, is to try as much as possible to seek reasonable uniformity in the presentation and evaluation standards. Actually, with pragmatic criteria, it is almost impossible to maintain that, worldwide, all countries agree to adhere to a single model, with different political realities and constitutional frameworks, making an idea of this type almost utopian.
However, it is thought that if a well-founded model is taken at the theoretical level, it is possible to introduce variations and alleviate rigidities that make it possible, step by step, to advance in growth towards uniformity.
OBJECTIVES OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
- Serve as a guide for the policy of management and investors in terms of profit distribution.
- Serve as a basis for the application and granting of financial and commercial credits.
- Serve as a guide for investors interested in buying and selling.
It seems clear, thinking about accounting for business entities, that the most convenient information for decision-making should be that which offers items and figures with economic significance. That is, information that allows the user to transform it into knowledge about the issues on which he has to decide.
The information offered must fundamentally revolve around an accepted profit concept.
THE ACCOUNTING MODELS
According to Millar and Starr, models are representations of reality that attempt to describe, explain or predict how some aspect of it behaves.
It is the opinion of these authors that the accounting reports would be quantitative and qualitative models that will be classified according to the degree to which they fulfill their objective of the models that provide information.
Naturally, many accounting models can be designed, which are constructions of schemes that are not identical to reality, but that will try to approximate it by simplification starting from assumptions and seeking to offer useful information that, according to what was said in the previous point, will be used not only by the entity that prepares it but also by third parties that may be related to it or interested in being so.
For this reason, the need has arisen that, in the event that the information can be directed to third parties, there are special regulations that systematize the presentation and fix the valuation of the items or accounts that make up that information.
INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING RULES AT THE SERVICE OF FINANCIAL CAPITAL
In the current process of globalization of the economy, accounting is the most relevant profession, it is the pillar and fundamental axis for this process to be carried out.
But this process cannot be carried out if the accounting practices of the countries that intend to enter this globalization process are not standardized; This is why international accounting standards are of such importance.
It should be noted that in the process of preparing international accounting standards, only the protection of financial capital and the interests of multinationals has been taken as consideration, without giving greater importance to issues as transcendental as social, in addition to the fact that It does not take into account the characteristics of each country, socio-economic conditions that in no case can be standardized and that is where the great shortcoming of international accounting standards is found; Firstly, because a single set of accounting standards cannot be expected to cover a large number of countries, especially when trying to put an economic superpower like the United States on the same plane or using the same standard. a weak and insipient economy,practically with a productive subsistence system such as the Colombian one.
And secondly, there has not even been a true process of elaboration of international accounting standards where the countries interested in implementing them participate equally.
As I said before, international accounting standards seek to protect financial capital, but not the economies of underdeveloped countries.
International accounting standards are part of a whole set of measures that developed countries and owners of financial capital have gradually implemented in our countries to allow, among other things, but mainly the free movement of financial capital or what is known as the “swallow” capital, so named due to its characteristic of constantly jumping from country to country. This capital has been one of the main causes, among others, of crises such as that of Mexico that generated the tequila effect, and the most recent that of Argentina.
All this is reflected in an article written by George Soros, called “towards a global open society” a few weeks after the 1997 financial crisis broke out. George Soros has been working in this financial market for 40 years and knows its insides. George Soros says:
"There are five types of deficiencies in the global capitalist system"
1. The benefits of global capitalism are unevenly distributed. Capital is in a much better position than labor because it is more mobile. Furthermore, finance capital is better situated in the global system than industrial capital.
2. Financial markets are unstable by nature, and even more so are international financial markets. The risks of collapse are increased because our theoretical understanding of how financial markets work is basically flawed.
3. Who is responsible for avoiding undue concentration of power and safeguarding stability? This would lead us to the role of the state. But the state's ability to look after the well-being of its citizens has been severely affected by globalization, because capital can escape control much more easily than labor.
4. This brings us to the most confusing problem: that of values and social cohesion. Every society needs to have shared values. Market values do not serve this purpose because they only reflect what one market participant is willing to pay to another within an exchange book. Markets reduce everything, including human beings (labor) and nature (land) to merchandise. We can have a market economy, but we cannot have a market society.
CONCLUSION
It is for all this that we consider that accounting should radically change the way it has been working, that is, at the service of financial capital and globalization, which by the way, has proven incapable of solving socioeconomic problems (unemployment, poverty).
Accounting must be approached in another way, that it serves it or that it is in the function of all and not of a few, that is, at the service of society, in search of a sustainable and harmonious economic and human development, which occurs in terms of equality and social justice, where we all benefit, but not a few.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Introduction to international accounting standards by Eutimio Mejia Soto from the Universidad del Quindío.
- Article "The avatars of globalization and professional accounting standardization" by a certified public accountant from the Universidad del Cauca, Guillermo León Martinez Pino.
- Article "Neoliberalism and globalization" by Francisco Javier Ibisate.
- Neoliberalism and economic globalization by Luis Antonio Cruz Soto, researcher at the research division of the Faculty of Accounting and Administration, UNAM.
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