This volume contains 21 papers divided into three parts: introductory issues; the measurement and effects of diversity; and classification. The final parts looks at the scope of and the reasons for studying international accounting. There are also some papers on the causes of international differences, in particular the effects of international influences on a country's accounting practices. The papers in the second part examine the degree of accounting difference internationally and the reactions to this of companies and users of financial statements. The third part looks at several attempts to put countries into groups by similarities and differences in accounting. Several of these papers refer critically to others in the group, so that a corpus of knowledge in this field has been built up.