ACCA Response – IFRS and the US
Dr Steve Priddy, Director of Technical Policy and Research ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) says in response to the recent announcement from the SEC:
- ACCA strongly supports global standards and we think the US is doing the right thing in moving to IFRS
- In a few week’s time ACCA will publish international research about the climate of convergence.
- The research, which included questioning 105 finance executives whose principal reporting obligations for their company lie in the US, suggests that the US is out of step with the rest of the world - some 26 per cent of respondents not intending to adopt IFRS’s, compared with just 3 per cent in the rest of the world.
- But there is a job to be done for the US to accept IFRS in practical terms – our research showed that 61 per cent of US respondents said that global standards will be good for their company compared with 73 per cent of respondents in Asia and Europe.
- It is comparatively easy to set the standard; it is a far more complex and costly process to actually implement the standard
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Notes to Editors
1. ACCA is the global body for professional accountants. We aim to offer business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management. We have 325,606 students and 122,426 members in 170 countries worldwide.
2. ACCA believes that globalisation of business requires one set of reporting standards. We favour principles-based, not rules-based standards, which is why we support the worldwide implementation of IFRS.
3. ACCA believes that tax systems should be transparent, simplified, fair and certain.
4. Complying with regulations affects SMEs disproportionately, which is why ACCA urges governments and standard setters to ‘think small first'’
For further information please contact:
Contact ACCA Newsroom for further comment: 020 7059 5759 helen.thompson@accaglobal.com