This is part one of an eight part series in which I review the seven IFRS critics (Sunder, Niemeier, Ball, Ketz, Selling, Jensen & Albrecht) of whom I am aware. The series continues over the next two weeks on regular posting dates, MWF.
Please be aware that you will need more time than usual to read this on Shyam Sunder, a blog essay. I’m reviewing three pieces of work by Shyam Sunder. Instead of a normal blog post of 500-800 words, this checks in at 3,400. Be assured that the read is very much worth it.
Shyam Sunder, Yale professor
Shyam Sunder, Ph.D., is truly a heavy hitter of an accounting theorist. He is a tenured, full professor at Yale and is one of the very biggest names in accounting academe. I’ve read of his work for years (his resume lists six books and over 150 refereed articles in the most highly regarded journals), and I stand in awe of his ability to get so much more out of 24 hours per day and 30 days per month than do I. He is well respected by other professors, having served as president of the American Accounting Association (national group of accounting professors). His brief bio is very revealing. It is an understatement to say that he shines much, much, much brighter on the brilliancy scale than I.
In reviewing his stance on IFRS, I will be referring to these three works (listed chronologically):
- Adverse Effects of Accounting Uniformity on Practice, Education, and Research, Emanuel Saxe Distinguished Lecture, Baruch College, New York, October 22, 2007.
- IFRS and the Accounting Consensus, working paper based on Deloitte-Federation of Schools of Accountancy Faculty
Consortium, June 15-16, 2008, revised July 28, 2008. - SEC’s mandate will lead to a monopoly, opinion piece in the Financial Times, September 18, 2008.
Dr. Sunder does not support the SEC decision to move the U.S to IFRS. His points are sophisticated and are mostly outside the norm of those typically found on Internet web sites and/or newspapers. However, I have tried to explain his work in such a way that a typical undergraduate student can understand. I don’t think there is any reason now to be unaware of his work.
The Summa 