Mr Hoogervorst began his speech by discussing Brexit and the US presidential election, the results of which have been presumed to be a “negative reaction to globalization”. He noted that he sees “no immediate consequences” for IFRS as a global standard. He acknowledged that “it is entirely possible that the trend towards growing global investment and trade may be interrupted,” but reminded the audience that “the logic for common accounting standards remains compelling” and that multi-national corporations and global investors will continue to be important to the global economy.

On the topic of US GAAP, Mr Hoogervorst stated that “the IASB is keen to keep IFRS Standards as closely converged as possible to US GAAP.”

Once the IASB completes its projects on insurance and the Conceptual Framework in 2017, Mr Hoogervorst noted that the IASB will shift its focus to improving the communication effectiveness of the financial statements. He announced that the central theme of the IASB’s new agenda will be 'better communication' and will look at improving primary financial statements (or what the IASB calls 'performance reporting'). The goals are to (1) increase comparability and (2) make it easier for regulators to enforce discipline around the presentation of non-GAAP measures. Mr Hoogervorst also announced that the IASB will continue to work on the IFRS Taxonomy to “shore up” the reliability of electronic reporting.

The full transcript of the speech is available on the IASB’s website.