Up-to-date information and background knowledge can help support and grow your business internationally. On this page you can access a range of articles, books and online resources providing quick links to information such as accounting standards, GAAP comparisons and background knowledge.
Online articles
The library provides access to a range of articles in full text from leading business, finance and management journals.
You will need to be logged-in to the website to gain full access to the range of articles available online.
Useful links
Accounting standards
Accounting Standards Updates by Jurisdiction: Germany
Updates from Deloitte's IAS Plus service.
Accountancy and auditing bodies
Comparisons
IFRS versus German GAAP (revised): Summary of similarities and differences (PDF 620kb/87 pages)
Review from PwC, published February 2010, of IFRS, IFRS for SMEs and German accounting standards.
IFRS compared with USGAAP and German GAAP (PDF 333.59kb/19 pages)
Extract from a KPMG GAAP comparison published in March 2003. The summary looks at the regulatory background, general issues relating to financial statements/accounts, specific balance sheet items, specific income statement items and special topics.
Enforcement bodies
Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP)
The Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (Deutsche Prüfstelle für Rechnungslegung) is a government appointed private organisation for financial statement oversight in Germany established in 2005. The organisation publishes the results of their work in annual activity reports (available in English) which include statistics on the number of financial statements found to be erroneous and analysis of the types of errors found.
Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin)
Official website of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority established in May 2002. The BaFin website includes a short section (in English) which states the role they play as the second tier of financial reporting enforcement in Germany. The website includes a list of those companies subject to enforcement.
Firms
Führende Wirtschaftsprüfungs- und Steuerberatungs-Gesellschaften in Deutschland
The market research and consultancy firm Lünendonk publishes an annual report on the leading accountancy firms in Germany ('Führende Wirtschaftsprüfungs- und Steuerberatungs-Gesellschaften in Deutschland'). The introduction and table of contents is available to view without charge.
Lünendonk also publishes listings of the top 25 accountancy firms and top 10 accountancy networks in Germany which are available to download free of charge. The listings includes figures for turnover and the number of employees.
Guides and resources
Germany: Accounts
Practical business information provided by the European Commission on legal requirements and administrative procedures for companies registered in Germany. Includes links to relevant documents and legal texts.
Model financial statements and disclosure checklists
Finanzberichterstattung nach IFRS Muster-Konzernabschluss 2010
IFRS model financial statements (in German) published by PWC in December 2010.
IFRS Disclosure Checklist 2011
IFRS disclosure checklist (in German) published by PWC in November 2011.
IAS Plus
The IAS Plus website from Deloitte provides IFRS model financial statements and IFRS presentation and disclosure checklists (in German) which are available to download.
Networks
Accountants Group in Germany
A group founded in 1980 with an objective to to represent the interests of members and students affiliated to the institutes that make up the CCAB. Membership of the group is restricted to members and students resident in Germany.
Other
Accounting for financial instruments / Rechnungslegung von Finanzinstrumenten IFRS/HGB
A bi-lingual publication by Dr. Knut Henkel on accounting for financial instruments under IFRSs and HGB. Available to download in full text from the IAS Plus website. Published in November 2009.
German Accounting Law Modernization Act (BilMoG): Overview of the main changes (PDF 721kb, 52 pages).
Overview published by Ernst & Young in April 2009 on the German Accounting Law Modernisation Act (Bilanzrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz). The foreword states that the publication 'gives companies a comprehensive overview of the new provisions and their impact on accounting practice, taking aspects of taxation into account. It is intended to help companies apply the new regulation.'
10 minutes - New German GAAP in a nutshell (PDF 460kb/12 pages)
Short publication issued by PWC in February 2010 summarising the new accounting and financial reporting regulations following the implementation of the German Act on the Modernisation of Accounting Law (BilMoG).
The mystery of hedge accounting and its taxation in Germany (PDF 126kb/5 pages)
Article by Holger Häuselmann which 'discusses the issues involved in reconciliation of a potential conflict between German tax accounting and financial reporting rules applicable to a hedging position.' This article was originally published in the Journal of Taxation of Financial Products, Volume 9, Issue 2 (2011) and subsequently reproduced on the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer website.
Articles and books in the Library collection
Selected books
Each selected book features specific accounting information on this country – click on the links for more details. Alternatively, contact us if you have a particular enquiry or need further help consulting these titles.
European Accounting Guide (5th ed.)
David Alexander and Simon Archer (eds.) (2003)
Individual country chapters cover background information, accounting policies and practices, discuss the form and content of published financial statements and offer sample accounts. The countries covered include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, the UK, Spain, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Russian Federation.
International Corporate Procedures
LS Sealy et al (eds.)
A regularly updated looseleaf publication in three volumes, this reference work includes information on tax and accounting and features model company accounts. The model accounts are presented in the standard format for each country with original language and English language versions presented together.
World Accounting
John D Gould, Kurt S Schulzke and LL Orsini
Each country entry contains sections on the framework of accounting (including the regulatory and standard setting regimes), individual accounting topics, auditing and appendices which can include commonly used terms and acronyms and example financial statements. This is a regularly updated looseleaf reference work comprised of three volumes.
Find more resources
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