Recent years have seen a steady process of harmonization of company law in EC countries in accordance with the EC Seventh Directive on national consolidation practices. Its implementation in 1990 has had important implications for accounting practices throughout Europe. What impact will this process have on countries whose companies trade in Europe and have subsidiaries there? This revised edition evaluates state of the art and implementation problems in EC countries, and explores the major issues involved. These include merger accounting, principles of consolidation, foreign currency, foreign currency translation, information disclosure, and the concept of goodwill. In the final part the book discusses practice as wlel as the major implications and differences between group accounting in Japan and the US. The material presented here is by some of the leading experts from around the EC who have a first-hand understanding of the legal, economic and cultural influences on accounting practice in their respective countries.