Deloitte letter to SEC on 'foreign issuer enhancements'
13 May 2008
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) and its member firms have submitted a Letter of Comment to the US SEC on the SEC's proposed rule Foreign Issuer Reporting Enhancements.
The movement toward IFRSs as a basis for financial reporting in jurisdictions outside the United States will affect many of these proposals. Accordingly, we suggest that to achieve a more consistent transition, the Commission give particular attention to transitioning certain of the proposals in the release to correspond with when FPIs are required to use IFRSs. Although the Commission is not proposing a broader current reporting disclosure regime for FPIs, we believe that current reporting requirements should be given further consideration, preferably in a separate release. Currently, FPIs are not subject to the disclosure requirements of Form 8-K. Instead they are subject to the requirements of Form 6-K, whose disclosure derive from information made public in the issuer's home country. This disclosure regime differs substantively from the 'current' disclosure regime of domestic registrants. We believe that the current reporting requirements for multinational companies that have reporting obligations in many jurisdictions should be consistent. Therefore, we encourage the SEC to work through the International Organization of Securities Commissions to address the broader issue of current reporting requirements by companies listed across borders. |