The Mizuho Securities Chair and the Intensive Short-Term Program to Support the Reeducation of Accounting Specialists (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology sponsored program) at the Graduate School of Management held the lecture, “Various Problems Regarding the International Convergence of Accounting Standards”, on July 17th (Saturday) in the Kyoto University Clock Tower Centennial Hall.

This lecture had Shizuki SAITO (Meiji University Professor, Tokyo University Honorary Professor) as a guest speaker. Professor Saito has been in the forefront of issues regarding the convergence of international accounting standards in Japan as the Chair of the Financial Accounting Standards Foundation. In addition, as the Chair of the President of the Japan Accounting Association, he also addressed these issues from the academic standpoint.

With Professor Norio SAWABE as the moderator, the program consisted of a greeting by Graduate School of Management Dean, Professor Kiyoshi KOBAYASHI, followed by the lecture by Professor Saito.

In his lecture, Professor Saito talked about the recent movements in the international convergence of accounting standards, and the problems dealing with the application scope of fair value accounting and profit recognition during financial crises.

Following the lecture, there was a interview session led by Professor Yoshihiro TOKUGA, where there were various discussions regarding the adjustment with stakeholders during the establishment of accounting standards, how the establishment should be done, characteristics of the IFRS, institutional support in Japan, etc.

The lecture was participated by 160 people comprised of certified public accountants and students. Participants were busily taking notes and were able to participate in a question and answer session at the end of the lecture.