Conversion of European Reporting Systems to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles A Claims Reserve Perspective

With rapid advances in technology and communications, globalization is impacting every sector of the economy, and insurance is no exception. While technology has made globalization easier, there is a significant amount of effort remaining in terms of uniform financial reporting structures across the various countries and regions in the world Recently, there has been significant momentum to formulate and adopt International Accounting Standards (IAS). The basic IAS framework is in place with the exception of the standards for insurance. It will be a few more years before these standards are fully agreed upon and effective. In the absence of comprehensive international standards, US GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) has become the de facto global standard, particularly for property/casualty insurance. The importance of US GAAP has also been emphasized by the fact that large foreign insurers and reinsurers are seeing capital in order to expand globally and in the US Listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is an important means of gaining access to US capital markets; however, being hosted on the NYSE requires financial reporting in US GAAP