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In giving a report of the progress of projects laid out in the MoU, the boards have again affirmed their commitment to developing a common set of high quality standards. Each believes that such standards would improve the quality, consistency and comparability of financial information for investors and capital markets around the world.
Commenting on the update, Sir David Tweedie, Chairman of the IASB, said,
This update outlines a plan and projected time line for completing the remaining joint major projects included in the MoU. A number of jurisdictions including Canada, India, Japan and Korea have announced plans to adopt or converge with IFRSs from 2011. Completing the MoU beforehand will avoid the need for those jurisdictions to make major changes shortly afterwards as MoU projects are completed.
Whilst the MoU forms an essential part of our strategy we remain committed to addressing other important projects on our agenda such as insurance accounting and those standards affected by the credit crisis.
Robert Herz, Chairman of the FASB, said,
In updating the 2006 MoU, the FASB and the IASB have set a goal of completing a number of major projects over the next few years. I believe that delivering on that goal will bring significant improvement to both US GAAP and IFRSs in areas that are important to investors. We will also decide by the end of the year whether to modify the short term convergence program to enable a sharpened focus on the major improvement efforts. This reflects our continued commitment to work together to develop a single set of high quality international accounting standards.
We will continue our dual objectives of working toward global convergence while addressing reporting issues of critical importance to US investors and financial markets.
The boards are also aware that continued progress toward convergence is a factor that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will consider in evaluating its recent proposal to permit or require use of IFRSs in the US.
The IASB and the FASB will hold their next joint meeting on 20 and 21 October in Norwalk, Connecticut.
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Email: mbyatt@iasb.org
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Telephone: +44 (0)20 7246 6463
Email: shorn@iasb.org
- Neal McGarity, Director of Communications, FASB
Telephone: +1 203-956-5347 (US)
Email: nemcgarity@f-a-f.org
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