Interlingual translation of the International Financial Reporting Standards as institutional work

Abstract

The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been widely adopted well beyond English-speaking jurisdictions. Using the Finnish translation of the IFRS as a primary object of investigation, this article analyses the way in which the standards are translated into another language. Drawing on interviews with translators and translation review committee members and on an analysis of archival materials, it provides an empirically grounded understanding of practical problems of linguistic equivalence, and the institutional work required to maintain the IFRS as a global, translingual institution. Accordingly, the article highlights the constructed and negotiated nature of the linguistic equivalence between the IFRS and their translations. As translation lies at the interface between transnational standard-setting and local implementation, examining the IFRS translation offers further insight into the complex institutional interactions and practices that support transnational regulation. The article identifies the commonalities and discrepancies between the translation policies of the EU and the IFRS Foundation, and analyses the translation as a contested area of expertise involving multiple, recurrently changing constituents.