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I know Chinese companies do not meet the US accounting standard and do not accept auditing from the American Accounting Association.

But how about other countries, such as Russia and Colombia?

Besides China, which countries do not meet the US accounting standard?

I think this information is useful when I decide to buy stocks of companies from certain countries.

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    Basically none. GAAP is a US-only thing. If you are looking for a world-wide standard, try IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). IFRS is followed in over 120 countries, including those in the European Union (EU).
    – Polygnome
    May 10, 2021 at 16:37
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    Just a note that "following accounting standards" is meaningless without verification that those standards were actually followed - so you would also want to consider the auditing standards of those countries. No guarantee that numbers are accurate (cough Enron cough), but it's a start.
    – Grade 'Eh' Bacon
    May 10, 2021 at 17:02
  • @Grade'Eh'Bacon cough Wirecard cough. They invented 1.9 billions from thin air.
    – Polygnome
    May 10, 2021 at 17:46
  • Note that there is a difference between accounting standards and auditing standards. Also note that there are differences between auditing standards in theory and auditing standards in practice.
    – Flux
    May 11, 2021 at 11:05
  • @Flux yes. This is the tricking part. The auditing standards in practice may be different. I have emailed SEC to see whether they have a list of countries which do not accept U.S. accounting auditing.
    – Jerry Zhang
    May 11, 2021 at 17:12

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US Accounting standards as in GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) are only used in the US, hence the name US accounting standards.

The international standard is IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). IFRS is followed in over 120 countries, including those in the European Union (EU). [1].

IFRS is used in more than 110 countries around the world, including the EU and many Asian and South American countries. GAAP, on the other hand, is only used in the United States. Companies that operate in the U.S. and overseas may have more complexities in their accounting. [2]

There are some subtle, and some more obvious differences between IFRS and GAAP [2].

The American Auditing Association does have an International Accounting Section dealing with IFRS [3].

There have been talks about convergence of IFRS and GAAP in the past, especially in 2010 and 2012, but so far this is an open issue [4].

If you are looking for countries following a highly standardized, and well regarded form of accounting, IFRS is a good candidate.

Note that even while domestic Chinese companies are not permitted to use IFRS [5], the IFRS notes that "China has adopted national accounting standards that are substantially converged with IFRS Standards" [5], and that the 2015 Joint Statement

  • establishes a joint working group to explore steps and ways to advance the use of IFRS Standards within China, especially for internationally-oriented Chinese companies;
  • identifies the vision of Chinese Accounting Standards becoming fully converged with IFRS Standards.

So to strictly answer the question "Which countries do not meet the US accounting standards?", that would be all of them except the US itself.

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