Wednesday, June 2, 2010

FASB, IASB to Miss G20 Convergence Deadline

The FASB and the IASB are set to announce that they will not meet the June 30, 2011 deadline for convergence with IFRS , requested by the G20.

FASB and IASB will announce changes to their convergence work plan that will delay completion by six months and allow for greater public comment on convergence proposals.

While it is not uncommon for accounting rulemakers to reset deadlines during their standard-setting process, the June 2011 deadline had been discussed by the G20 several times and is seen as particularly important in potentially moving U.S. companies to international standards.

According to Robert Herz, chair of FASB, to issue final standards by June 2011, the two boards would have to release about 10 proposals in the next two months and rush through the public comment process.

In the past FASB and IASB have redoubled their efforts toward convergence and in some cass have fast-tracked the comment process, in May the boards received letters from corporate executive groups saying they were "extremely concerned" about the quality of responses FASB and the IASB would get on more than 10 proposals for new rules by mid-2011.

While the G20 set a mid-2011 deadline for creating a single set of high-quality accounting rules, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's chief accountant has said recently that the deadline should not be met at the cost of lower-quality standards.

The areas of focus are revenue recognition, leases, financial instrument accounting and financial statement presentation.

Herz said he still expects a staggered release of proposals over the next seven to nine months, meaning most or all would be released by the end of 2011.

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