The Degree of Harmonization of Accounting Practices within Jordan

This study has been carried out to reword the degree of harmonization of accounting practices already takingplace in Jordan, and with analyzing the best option for Jordan to achieve accounting harmonization. A survey ofaccounting practices in Jordan is made of the consistency and change in measurement methods used over theperiod 2000-2002. Two statistical tools were used. The Chi-square test is used to assess whether themeasurement practices by companies in Jordan are significantly different, and the C-index is used to find thedegree of harmonization within Jordan in order to determine what factors appear to have influencedcomparability.The results indicated that the Jordanian accounting practices concerning inventory valuation and costing,goodwill, research and development costs, fixed assets valuation, depreciation, long term investments,investments in associates and foreign current translation are not significantly different. The results also show thatthe Jordanian accounting practices concerning the amortization of research and development costs and currentinvestments are significantly different. And these results also show that accounting practices concerninginventory valuation, goodwill, research and development costs, fixed assets, depreciation have a high level ofcomparability, while the accounting practices concerning inventory costing, amortization of research anddevelopment costs, current investments, investments in associates, foreign currency translation and exchangedifferences have a low level of comparability. It is noticed that the two techniques used (the Chi-square test andthe C-index) do not indicate the same results concerning any differences in the accounting practices all overtime. Moreover, the study concluded that the elimination of the options provided by the International FinancialReporting Standards (IFRS) could be the best solution to increase the degree of harmonization within Jordan