SEC Chief Accountant discusses IFRS in the US

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06 Dec 2016

At the annual American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments currently taking place in Washington, the new Chief Accountant of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) spoke about a broad range of topics including IFRSs in the United States.

Wesley R. Bricker, who took office as SEC Chief Accountant last month, noted that IFRS is very significant for both U.S. investors and companies, with investors relying on financial statements of companies that operate globally and companies frequently looking abroad for potential targets and investees that use IFRS. Nevertheless, he stated:

On the question of possible further use of IFRS for domestic issuers, I believe that for at least the foreseeable future, the FASB’s independent standard setting process and U.S. GAAP will continue to best serve the needs of investors and other users who rely on financial reporting by U.S. issuers.

Still, he encouraged the FASB and IASB to continue to work together to eliminate differences between their standards. And he noted, that he believed it was worth "continuing to consider the proposal that Jim Schnurr described at an earlier conference of allowing domestic issuers to provide IFRS-based information as a supplement to GAAP financial statements".

Please click to access the full text of Mr Bricker's speech on the SEC website. Generally, the speeches of the SEC represenatives at the conference are worth noting. Among other topics they touch on revenue recognition, "new GAAP" in general, non-GAAP measures, and application of accounting standards. Access to all speeches is available here.

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