Abstract
This paper explains the history of the inter-relationship of political and economic changes that effect today's problem of harmonization of currency and reporting such as (1) competing economic policy objectives similar to today's problems with oil, (2) the Janus-faced nature of international capital flows and (3) the changing center of influence of the international system from the United Kingdom and toward the United States. The author points out that the new ISO engineering standards represent a model for standardizing accounting and reporting processes not only by solving the problems of harmonizing the accounting and reporting process but also by offering an open-ended approach, easily adaptable to even the smallest of enterprises. The paper stresses that this need for global standardization means that the mundane "bean-counters" of the past must be replace by today's global accountants trained in several disciplines.

Table of Contents
Thesis Statement
The Powerful Influence of History
The Gold Standard
The Rise and Dilemmas of Bimetallism
The Development of the International Monetary Systems between WWI and WW II
The Bretton Woods System and its Problems
The Harmonization of the British Pound, U.S. Dollar and the European Common Currency
The Future Outlook from an ISO Point of View

From the Paper
"Between the wars, the United States overtook Britain as the leading player in the commercial and the financial domains. However, America's foreign financial and commercial relations did not yet fit together in a way that produced a harmoniously working international system. Moreover, with even today's technological edge America is finding the attainment of harmonization a difficult task at best. Great Britain likewise struggles with several issues in this area. Hence, when postwar planners again contemplated the reconstruction of the international system, they sought a framework capable of accommodating these changed conditions. The solutions to the problems are not at all straightforward and thus the pronounced lack of harmonization of accounting and reporting."

Tags:gold, bretton-woods, currency, iso, bimetalism