Speaking at an open meeting in Washington DC last week, Commissioner Elisse B. Walter, referring to the IFRS roadmap for US issuers said that “we have to keep in mind that no one knows for certain what the future will hold. I strongly believe that we have to prepare for the alternative that the Commission will determine not to adopt, or permit the use of, IFRS for U.S. issuers.”
Supporting the future of IFRS Commissioner Walter said “The SEC is serious about moving to IFRS as the governing accounting standards” but forewarned that “we are equally serious about doing this in the right way”.
Under current proposal the Commission will decide in 2011 whether to move
forward with IFRS for U.S. issuers, with the transition beginning in 2014. However there is a lot of work to be done before the 2011 milestone, for example, by the FASB and the IASB. In particular the SEC has highlighted the critical need to resolve the issues related to accountability and funding of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation.
Walter added “I strongly support the SEC staff's continued work with other national securities authorities and IOSCO in establishing the Monitoring Group to enable it to begin its work and enhance the accountability of the IASC Foundation. With respect to funding, I believe that our future determination of whether to mandate IFRS should only occur after the IASC Foundation reaches its goal of securing a stable funding mechanism.”
“ As the milestones presented in the Roadmap show, there are significant hurdles to overcome over the next three years in order for the Commission to determine to accept IFRS reporting from U.S. issuers. Therefore, I strongly support the reconciliation proposal, otherwise known as Alternative Proposal B for early adoption. Under Alternative Proposal B, reconciliation would continue until further Commission action on the use of IFRS by U.S. issuers. I believe that this reconciliation Proposal is extremely important — in order to increase comparability and help U.S. investors transition to seeing U.S. companies present their financials in IFRS. It is also critical to me because it gives early adopters of IFRS a way back to U.S. GAAP if the Commission determines not to adopt the use of IFRS in 2011,” she added.
