IASB and FASB reaffirm to improve IFRS and U.S.GAAP and to bring about their convergence

At their joint meeting last week, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) reaffirmed their commitment to improve International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP) and to bring about their convergence. The Boards also agreed to intensify their efforts to complete the major joint projects described in their 2006 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), as updated in 2008.

Today, as a further affirmation of that commitment, the IASB and FASB issued a joint statement describing their plans and milestone targets for completing the major MoU projects in 2011. The statement, which is available by clicking here [PDF] also describes the values and principles underpinning the Boards’ collaboration and significant successes achieved thus far.

In affirming their commitment to developing a common set of high quality standards, the Boards took note of the support of the leaders of the Group of 20 nations, the Financial Crisis Advisory Group of the FASB and IASB, and the Monitoring Board of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) Foundation for the joint convergence efforts underway.

Commenting on the update, Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the IASB, said:

The two boards are committed to improving financial reporting internationally by completing the convergence programme described in the Memorandum of Understanding. The statement published today describes a series of important and concrete steps that will help us to achieve our June 2011 targets.

Robert Herz, chairman of the FASB, said:

Our successful joint meeting with the IASB in late October demonstrated that improvements in financial reporting and convergence are very much on track. Our joint efforts have and will continue to produce significant benefits to investors and the economy at large. We will continue our dual objectives of working toward global convergence while addressing reporting issues of critical importance to U.S. investors and financial markets.

In the interest of timely and continued progress, the two Boards also committed to monthly joint meetings and to provide transparency and accountability by providing quarterly updates on their progress on convergence projects.

The IASB and the FASB will hold their next joint meeting via videoconference later this month.

The Trustees of the IASC Foundation and the Trustees of the FAF also issued a statement of support today available by clicking here [PDF].

Source : IASB.org

The push to move U.S. companies to international accounting standards is a myth-laden ?

CFO.com in its September 11, 2008 Today in Finance article titled "Regulator Rips into Global Accounting Plan" said that 'Recent effort to move the United States toward adoption of international accounting standards is a politically motivated effort that will hurt the standing of the United States in the World's capital markets, a prominent accounting regulator said today'

Further, it wrote the statement of a member and former acting chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Charles Niemeier who said that 'A precipitous move away from U.S Generally Accepted Accounting Principles will undermine the U.S. regulatory system, and thereby "put in jeopardy the thing that gives the U.S. a competitive advantage'

Niemeier also said it is a myth that IFRS is based more on principles than the rules-heavy U.S GAAP.

"IFRS in not more principles-based, it's just younger," said Niemeier, repeating a charge that he has made in the past.

GAAP, he said, also started with principles. However, he said, that changed after U.S. v.Simon, a 1969 court decision that found that presenting financial information in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles may not be a sufficient defense against charges of violating the antifraud provision of U.S. securities laws.

That case, he said, was a "shock to the system," and spurred a large number of the rules that exist in GAAP today, which were demanded by companies and auditor seeking a level of predictability and consistency.

Read the rest of this article in here :  Regulator Rips into Global Accounting Plan (CFO.com), and also another related article in her : Regulator pans U.S. move toward IFRS accounting