11. Scientific importance of the research work

A clarification of the role of IFRS in Swiss accounting and stock corporation law also serves for a better understanding of the standards which are specifically applicable. Of scientific interest is not only the method, but also its application to specific issues. Here it is apparent that legal methods of determining a standard’s content are very different from business methods which are applied especially by auditors. Their methods, for example, in relation to ascertaining and filling gaps, are much less suitable for obtaining proper answers. In particular, consulting IFRS to fill gaps in CO is not often ventured by auditors because they see CO and IFRS as two completely different regulatory complexes without any direct mutual reference. Though lawyers dealing with accounting see no methodological obstacles, often lacking here is an understanding of IFRS standards to perform such transfers to CO. The scientific importance of this project, very specifically, is to make IFRS systematically accessible as a means of interpretation and gap-filling source to CO accounting law.

The third sub-project also ties in to IFRS, however, not to IFRS as an accounting standard, but a bookkeeping organization which allows IFRS financial statements. This sub-project examines whether internal corporate organization aligned to a use of IFRS as an accounting standard also always proves adequate with regard to the financial supervisory duties of the board of directors. Literature concerned with company law always just circumscribes the object of supervisory financial management with descriptions of the objectives which financial control must fulfil. If it is possible to establish a relationship between IFRS and the financial management duties of the board of directors, then the board not only has a catalogue of objectives, but also specific standards whose content defines how the board of directors must perform supervisory financial management.

The research results are circulated, firstly, through publications of the three doctoral dissertations. Furthermore, the results of this work are to be incorporated into the new edition of my book titled „Corporate Accounting Law“ (refer to the bibliography). Publication of further technical articles addressing certain individual issues is also planned.