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G-20 pushes for global accounting standard

The leaders of the G-20 tasked FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) with completing their convergence project by 2011, calling on them to: “redouble their efforts to achieve a single set of high quality, global accounting standards within the context of their independent standard setting process and complete their convergence project by June 2011.”

FASB and the IASB have been working jointly on standard convergence; however, there continue to be several standards that will be stumbling blocks in the process. Fair value, for instance, is an example that FASB chair Bob Herz has noted is not likely to be “converged.” Herz has indicated that FASB will be taking a tougher stance than the IASB on expanding the use of fair value accounting.

The SEC did finally break their silence on the proposed roadmap for the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). On Sept. 18, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro addressed IFRS publicly saying, “I expect we will speak a little later this fall about what our expectations are with respect to IFRS. It would be ideal if we can have a single set of high-quality accounting standards that worked globally.”

The proposed roadmap released in November 2008 by former SEC Chairman Christopher Cox called for the adoption of IFRS in the United States starting with the largest companies’ reports for fiscal years beginning on or after Dec. 15, 2014, provided that certain milestones had been met by 2011.