ABSTRACT
Financial accounting is considered to represent the portion of management information shared with external users. Two financial accounting dilemmas are unique to multinational businesses: multiple accountings and foreign currency translations. Accounting is said to be the language of business. Multinational operations are conducted in many dialects, both in the languages of people and of business. In most countries the structure of the business may be represented by the proprietary, entity, or parent-company concepts, alone or in combination. The labyrinth of various accounting standards and tax regulations poses particular consolidation problems for multinational businesses. The preceding accounting problems of multinationals pertain to external financial reporting and, as a consequence, arise primarily because reporting practices must conform with standards devised to protect external users. In a business context, an information system should furnish the right information, to the right people, at the right time.
