The joint boards considered the scope of a project to converge accounting for R&D; expenditure. The staff noted that they believe this would require a reconsideration of fundamental asset recognition and measurement issues that apply in particular to all internally generated intangible assets. The staff believed this would not be a realistic short term goal and proposed that the project be removed from the scope of the short-term convergence project.

The joint boards noted that this was an important issue but would not be fully resolved in a short-term project. They requested the staff to consider whether there were any issues that could be converged in the short-term noting that there needs to be a more fundamental re-examination of accounting for intangible assets.