If you haven’t been paying attention to the convergence of financial reporting standards, now’s a good time to start.

Convergence is, in the words of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, “the development of a common set of high-quality accounting standards for both domestic and international use.” These standards — known as international financial reporting standards, or IFRS — are supposed to ease some of the complexities that are typical of financial reporting, and according to this Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs article, they’re coming fast. Countries throughout the world have already made the switch to IFRS.

It’s looming large on the United States’ horizon as well, although the article’s author, Allison Henry, says “some questions are beginning to arise as to whether convergence has come far enough that U.S. markets can accommodate both sets of standards.” Read Henry’s analysis in its entirety.

For Americans who wonder what convergence will bring, the International Accounting Standards Board offers a few clues. In an article entitled, “IFRS going global: Implications for the accounting profession,” the IASB says there’s a lot of enthusiasm for IFRS throughout the world … and a number of challenges left to overcome as well. Read more about the global pros and cons here.

Our guess is that U.S. regulators will embrace the IFRS concept sooner rather than later. What’s your take? Has IFRS’s time arrived?

Convergence at the Expo
You can learn more about convergence and its impact on businesses by attending the first-ever Maryland Business and Accounting Expo, slated for June 17-18 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Get details about the Expo here, then pre-register here.