"Accounting began as a practical activity in response to perceived needs. It has progressed in the same way, adapting to meet changes in the demands made on it. Where the needs differed in different countries, accounting developed in different ways, essentially on the Darwinian principle: useful...

1. Introduction -- 2. The purposes and processes of classification -- 3. International differences in accounting -- 4. An overview of accounting classifications -- 5. Extrinsic classifications -- 6. Intrinsic classifications in the pre-IFRS world -- 7. Classification in the IFRS era -- 8. Are...