EU chief urges US to buy into IFRS
Commissioner says US cannot afford to 'diverge' from IFRS path
Michel Barnier, EU commissioner
EU markets commissioner Michel Barnier has suggested the US cannot deviate
from the path to a set of fully converged international standards.
The US is due to make a decision about whether fully buy in to international
standards in the latter half of next year. There has been speculation that the
appointment of a new chairman for the US standard setter,
FASB,
could determine which way the world’s biggest economy will go on international
standards.
In a speech yesterday to a conference organised by European financial think
tank EUROFI, Barnier welcomed the involvement of the US in the Basel talks on
financial regulation. But he added that the US should not part company with
IFRS.
“It’s essential that we adopt the same prudential framework. I say this very
simply, we cannot afford to take the risk of divergence in this area. And this
is also the case for accounting standards,” he said.
Michel Barnier is the commissioner for internal markets at the EU and in the
past has expressed concern that the US is not fully supportive of a shift to
international standards.
He has also been critical of the
International Accounting
Standards Board for what he describes as its lack of
accountability.
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