a. describe the objective of financial statements and the importance of financial reporting standards in security analysis and valuation;

b. describe roles and desirable attributes of financial reporting standard-setting bodies and regulatory authorities in establishing and enforcing reporting standards, and describe the role of the International Organization of Securities Commissions;

c. describe the status of global convergence of accounting standards and ongoing barriers to developing one universally accepted set of financial reporting standards;

d. describe the International Accounting Standards Board's conceptual framework, including the objective and qualitative characteristics of financial statements, required reporting elements, and constraints and assumptions in preparing financial statements;

e. describe general requirements for financial statements under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS);

f. compare key concepts of financial reporting standards under IFRS and US generally accepted accounting principles (US GAAP) reporting systems;

g. identify characteristics of a coherent financial reporting framework and the barriers to creating such a framework;

h. describe implications for financial analysis of differing financial reporting systems and the importance of monitoring developments in financial reporting standards;

i. analyze company disclosures of significant accounting policies.