Accounting disclosure, corporate governance and the battle for markets: The case of trade negotiations between Japan and the U.S.

Developments in the socio-economic and political spheres impact upon accounting disclosure and corporate governance. In the context of globalisation, moves have been made ostensibly to converge practices towards global standards, which on the face of it equate to Anglo-American ways. Here, we focus on Japan in this context. We give particular attention to pressure apparently placed upon Japan by the U.S. vis-à-vis bilateral state-level trade negotiations – an under researched area – from the late 1980s. We critically interpret how the Japanese Government has responded to such apparent pressure.