The relentless march of International Financial Reporting Standards took a huge leap forward last week, after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it would drop the requirement for foreign-listed companies to reconcile to US GAAP.

The move will prompt a full-scale rush in the US to brush up on the international standards, where there are few professionals up to speed on the standards.

But experts warned that the moves, though welcome, could still prompt difficulties for UK companies since the variety of IFRS allowed by the SEC is still different from that used in Europe.

There are fears that the move could create problems for those analysing accounts. Former SEC chief accountant Lynn Turner earlier this month said there was ‘just about no professors teaching IFRS… and almost no professors who themselves have a working knowledge of IFRS [in the US]’.

Desmond Wright, the ICAEW’s corporate reporting manager, added: ‘There is also a question of audit quality, in that US audit firms will need to undertake some additional staff training in applying IFRS.

‘However, we believe that there is sufficient experience both within the US and internationally to ensure that audit quality will be maintained, although we acknowledge that additional costs will initially be incurred.’

UK companies may still have to carry out significant work to reconcile themselves to the full IFRS that the SEC is insisting on. European Union companies use a local variant of the standards.

Tom Quinn, a partner in the capital markets group at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: ‘It is entirely possible that companies might have to prepare two sets of numbers in future (EU and a full IFRS) if they drop the US GAAP reconciliation.

‘There are also issues around managing analyst expectations and about issuing securities before the next annual report is published.’

US companies may also have the option of moving to IFRS in 2009.

Mary Tokar, head of KPMG’s international financial reporting group, said the SEC’s decision was a major step forward in confirming the role of IFRS as the global platform for financial reporting.

‘This ruling is a welcome signal confirming the SEC’s commitment to IFRS, and suggests that it will continue to move forward the debate on its proposal to permit US companies to use IFRS,’ she said.