Despite disagreement about how to tackle globalisation, there is universal agreement that the big five accounting firms represent little threat, except in the specialist area of tax advice.

ECONOMIST: The battle of the Atlantic

America had insisted that any global agreement would have to follow its own accounting principles, but in the wake of Enron and myriad other accounting scandals it was forced to soften its attitude to European practices.

ECONOMIST: A loss of confidence

As I write in Three Felonies a Day, the feds forced the accounting firm KPMG to enter into an unjust deferred prosecution agreement because an indictment would without any doubt have destroyed it.

FORBES: Justice 'Deferred'

Official heads nodded in agreement but, at some stage, there will have to be an accounting.

BBC: Europe: a cautious rate cut

The IASB and the IFAC signed an agreement in November to encourage harmonisation between public- and private-sector accounting standards.

ECONOMIST: Government accounting

The agreement ends a contentious, and expensive, process begun in 2011 that sought a full accounting of the various breaches and subversions of the foreclosure process by lenders during the housing crash.

FORBES: Mortgage Settlements Not Likely To Move Housing Market

The 100-plus page agreement now being drafted reportedly covers such areas as profits repatriation and rules covering tax, labor, accounting, insurance, arbitration and other areas for Soviet-American ventures.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: US-Soviet Joint Ventures: The Camel's Nose Under The Tent