The SEC's most recent take on IFRS amounts to … well, nothing, really. As Tom Hood reports, a long-awaited Commission report “fails to give any specifics or dates as to the timing of IFRS adoption.” Yawn.
The rest of the world's reaction to that report amounts to … well, more of the same, really. The global community's stock response to U.S. inaction on IFRS seems to be, “The sky is falling!”
Hey, world — we get it: You desperately want the U.S. to jump aboard the IFRS bandwagon. Enough, already.
The latest developments on IFRS have been … well, boring, to be quite honest.
Then along came AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon, who offered an interesting take on the issue during the 2012 Interchange Conference in St. Louis.
SEC leadership is determined by presidential appointment … and this is an election year. Depending on the election's outcome, Melancon said the SEC could look much different in 2013.
For IFRS proponents, that means patience should definitely be a virtue. According to Melancon, there probably will be no SEC movement on IFRS before 2013.
Then again, as Business Learning Institute thought leader Peter Margaritis says, IFRS is already here. More than 100 countries — Mexico and Canada among them — already use IFRS, and the United States does business with just about all of them. Like it or not, Margaritis says the United States is already dealing with IFRS.
You might as well get cozy with the idea.
Want to learn more?
Regardless what the SEC says about IFRS, the time has come to learn more. These resources can help:
- Aug. 22 webcast: Webcast: IFRS vs. GAAP: The Differences That You Need to Know
- Aug. 22: IFRS vs. GAAP: The Differences That You Need to Know
- Oct. 16 webcast: Things That Every CPA Need to Know About IFRS
- Oct. 16 webcast: Convergence: Changes Coming to US GAAP
- Oct. 16: Things That Every CPA Need to Know About IFRS
- Oct. 16: Convergence: Changes Coming to US GAAP
- Nov. 28: 4 for Fall: Preparing for the Coming Wave of Accounting Standards: IFRS GAAP Convergence
- Dec. 18: Revenue Recognition, Business Combinations, and IFRS: A Look at How Changes in These Areas May Affect Decision Making
- Dec. 18-19: IFRS Basics
- Dec. 21: Introduction to IFRS: Grasping the Big Picture