It is a Finnish paper and forest product company created in 1995 from a merger. In 1999, the company employed 33,000 people and operated in 14 countries. Comparing Accounting Standards of International Paper to UPM-Kymmene Material differences exist between US GAAP and Finnish GAAP that may cause a skewed comparison without adjusting the financials. The differences fall into two categories, reporting and accounting treatment. Reporting differences involve terminology, classification, and statement structure.
Inventory is called stock.
Sales is called turnover. Approximately 50 ratios and margin calculations for each company provided by Yahoo Marketguide. Comparing IP to UPM to Industry A brief comparison of valuation, liquidity, profitability, capability of management ratios demonstrating the UPM strength compared to IP and the Industry. To test the comparison, four ratios are recalculated and compared to observe the effect of the US GAAP adjustments to Finnish GAAP financials. The US GAAP adjustments reduced the 1999 ROI fifteen percentage points.