Hans Hoogervorst discusses IASB developments
10 Dec, 2015
During the annual American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments in Washington, D.C., IASB Chairman Hans Hoogervorst spoke about the IFRS developments during 2015 and what to expect in the upcoming year.
Mr Hoogervorst discussed improvements made to IFRS over the past year which included the use of the joint Transition Resource Group to modify the revenue guidance, but maintain "a Standard with strong principles and sufficient guidance for preparers to make sound accounting judgements". He further noted that the leasing project was finalised during the past year and will result in a new standard in the second week of January, which is converged with the FASB standard in its core objective (to move most operating leases to the balance sheet).
Next, Mr Hoogervorst went on to talk about the expanded use of IFRS in Asian countries, specifically outlining progress made in Japan, India, and China, and provided an example of how far the acceptance of IFRS has come in the US. However, he noted that “the next several years are unlikely to bring big progress toward domestic use of IFRS in the United States. Still, there are substantive American interest at stake. IFRS strips out significant costs for American investors, multinational preparers and global accounting networks. More generally, the US has a big interest in a strong infrastructure for the global economy, of which IFRS is an important part.”
In discussing the future of IFRS, Mr Hoogervorst noted that it is important to make "financial reporting easier to digest, without sacrificing the quality and rigour of our standards" and he noted that there are many issues to consider to improve financial reporting and make disclosures more effective.
The full transcript of the speech is available on the IASB’s website.