US GAAP x Latin American Accounting: Impact of norms’ differences on reported profit by firms with ADRs in NYSE

Abstract

The goal of this study is to measure how many differences between accounting norms of the United States and of Latin American countries impact the profit reported by firms of these latter countries. The Gray’s “Conservatism Index”, which measures the degree to which a national accounting system – in this work, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico – reports lower (“conservative”) or higher (“optimist”) profits than the US GAAP, was calculated. The study encompasses all firms of these countries with ADRs in the NYSE in the period 2001-2005, and is based on published data of SEC’s 20F Forms and on the Economatica’s databank. Mean and median measurements indicate that, in general, the accounting practices of Latin American countries result in profit values that are lower than those reported as per US GAAP. However, mean tests and the frequency distribution show that there is no representative homogeneous pattern, except for Chile, with a mean IC significant at 10% in the sub-periods 2001-2002 and 2003-2005, and for Brazil only in the last studied triennium.

Key words: International Accounting, US GAAP, Latin American Accounting Norms, Conservatism Index.