International Accounting Standards (IAS®)
Active since: 1976
Superceeded by: IFRS ®
Target: Corporations worldwide. For some corporations the use is optional while for others it is mandatory.
Goal: Enforce a standardised way of describing the company's financial performance and position so that company financial statements are understandable and comparable across international boundaries.
At the moment the IAS ® standards are being replaced one by one by IFRS ® standards.