If IFRS offer the answer, they sure raise a lot of questions: as SEC talk turns to actions--towards accepting one set of accounting standards worldwide--serious concerns for American regulators and U.S. GAAP-filing companies surface and need to be addressed.(INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING)(international financial reporting standards)(Securities & Exchange Commission)(generally accepted accounting principles)

Financial Executive, November, 2007 by Cheney, Glenn A.

For America's financial executives who haven't kept up with the latest accounting news, a call this summer for comments from the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) should garner your attention.

The issue is a big one: Should the SEC (and thus U.S. capital markets) change its rule of having foreign issuers reconcile their financial reporting to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), or should we accept financial reports that comply with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)?

The deceptively simple question has spawned a host of related questions and scenarios. Is this a way for foreign companies to evade U.S. law? Would American companies be allowed to use IFRS? Would the move toward a global system of standards...

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