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08 Mar 2011
THE US' international influence will wane if it fails to sign up to international financial reporting standards (IFRS), the European Commission has warned.
The EC said it was costly to convert accounts between IFRS and the US, and European companies would find it difficult to justify unless the US was committed to IFRS. It suggested that the non-IFRS countries might be blocked from overseeing the IASB, reported the FT.
The comments were in response to a review of the IASB by its oversight body the IFRS Foundation.
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Visitor comments Add your comment
Let's hold up here.
When things like this happen, some people will point to it and say, "look, we don't want to be irrelevant so we need to do something."
My question is, why would they make the remarks in the first place? If what they are saying is true, it should be evident, and the US would likely go in that direction. The fact that the EC feels they need to make these comments tells me that maybe it won't be evident that the US needs to make this move right away and that there is some political game playing going on. Whenever that starts to heat up, there's only one thing to do: slow down.
Posted by: Sam Niemi, 09 Mar 2011 | 14:08
Bad faith
It seems every couple of months there is a pronouncement like this coming out of Europe. If I was talking to someone about a major business deal and they kept doing this sort of thing I would find another business partner. Anyone that does this knows that their position is a good one and they are really negotiating in bad faith. Would we be better off with a single set of world wide standards? Most likely yes but as long as the EC and IFRS board takes this approach we must assume they are only interested in themselves.
Posted by: Dan, 09 Mar 2011 | 15:11
IFRS = Too big to fail
Mark to market accounting is bad for long term prosperity and is a cornerstone of IFRS.
MTM encourages extreme volatility and discounts all innovation and ingenuity.
IFRS is the too big to fail:failed plan. Freedom does not require the entrenchment of global deciders of economic value.
Posted by: US GAAP = Capitalsim, 09 Mar 2011 | 16:47
EU bullies US
The EU is a bunch of bullies. They didn't care about our accounting system when they need us to bail them out of two world wars and stare down the USSR in the Cold War. If the US had not come to their rescue there might not be an EU.
Posted by: Jack, 09 Mar 2011 | 16:48
who would guess
I am somewhat surprised that Europe is making these comments. When it comes down to business many derogatory remarks by Asian or Eastern influence are aimed at Europe as being financial inepts, and as a target for criticism in IFRS. I would think that Europe would understand that jumping into IFRS is a mistake because they have differing monetary views then the East. I say if implementing IFRS means compromising US financial stability then we are out. Global economy seems to weaken our dollar,and limiting business world wide is not going to hurt in fact it will help us. We will always have partners whether we are doing the books according to IFRS or FASB because we are good faith partners. Limiting commerce abroad will only put America back to work....implementing IFRS at our rate and on our terms is fine.
Posted by: Jennifer Qualteri, 13 Mar 2011 | 18:44
Linda Biek
The IASC Foundation Annual Report for FY09 reported 16,594,000 (sterling) in Contributions. US companies comprised 1,846,698 (sterling) of that amount. It doesn't seem to make good business sense to exclude a region that funds more than 10% of your budget. Furthermore, the input from the US is a integral part of the continued plan to strengthen the foundation of the IASB and, naturally, IFRS. Someone may need to rethink their comments.
Posted by: Linda Biek, 07 Apr 2011 | 16:52
Bullied by EU?
There seems to be some bullying going on. Does this demonstrate why the U.S. should NOT adopt IFRS? IASB is already being highly criticized as being Euro-centric. If this is the honey now, I'd hate to see the vinegar later -- after implementation by the US. Yes, it is legitimate to ask whether any country that has not adopted IFRS should have a place at the trough. But, let's make sure the standards are good quality before we jump into that briar patch.
Posted by: Close to Home, 07 Apr 2011 | 22:19
Bullied by EU?
There seems to be some bullying going on. Does this demonstrate why the U.S. should NOT adopt IFRS? IASB is already being highly criticized as being Euro-centric. If this is the honey now, I'd hate to see the vinegar later -- after implementation by the US. Yes, it is legitimate to ask whether any country that has not adopted IFRS should have a place at the trough. But, let's make sure the standards are good quality before we jump into that briar patch.
Posted by: Close to Home, 07 Apr 2011 | 22:19
FASB or IASB
As long as United States remains as the world’s largest economy and conglomerates from every corner in China, Russia, India or Brazil goes on applying for listing in NYSE or NASDAQ the US FASB will move in its own direction.
Having said that it doesn’t mean US accounting regulators won’t provide support to IASB. If you have done a little research, you should know FASB’s promulgation is trailblazer where IASB will copy in former FASB standards in its IFRS.
Posted by: George Lee, 08 Apr 2011 | 10:55