Austria and Germany share similar accounting traditions. International harmonization in both countries has mainly focused on group accounting. In contrast, single financial statements give rise to legal and tax consequences and, thus, are still tied to the traditional principles of orderly...

In their revised conceptual frameworks, the IASB and FASB pronounce that in their view valuation usefulness is the single objective of financial reporting. The present paper addresses the question how this decision was made by the boards and why stewardship was not identified as a separate...