Financial accounting, reporting and regulation is a vast subject area of huge importance globally with interest rising significantly in the light of the ongoing global financial crisis.

In the first part, a broad overview of the subject of accounting is presented which sets the stage for some of the theoretical and practical issues and debates regarding financial reporting which follow in the second part. These issues include how to define the reporting entity, recognition and measurement of the elements of financial statements, fair values in financial reporting and the costs and...