China’s accounting reforms following the second joint statement with IASB: circumstances and driving forces.

This thesis aims to review the reforms in accounting regulations immediately preceding and following the Second Joint Statement to this day, and to clarify the reasons for this second wave of reforms. The reforms around and following the Second Joint Statement double down on the application of fair value, which seem to suggest that the development of the economic environment mean that fair value can now be reliably measured, as active markets allow for correct estimates and limit the possibility of earnings manipulation. Other reforms mainly involve financial instruments and are a direct response to the IASB revisions of IFRS 9 – Financial Instruments, adopted as a reaction to the 2008 global financial crisis. Another key issue is China’s involvement in international institutions such as the G20, and its establishment of parallel initiatives such as the Asian Development Bank and the Belt and Road Initiative. China, as globalisation progressed, saw convergence to IFRS as inevitable, but exerted and is exerting its influence to guide further revision of IFRS to accommodate Chinese specificities, and to decide the pace of domestic accounting reforms. We might expect for Beijing to have a fundamental role in developing sustainability disclosures public companies in the context of the newly established ISSB, with China possibly attempting to take a leading role in the approach to sustainable development, even in light of the inconsistent commitment of the United States.