SEC Approves Concept Release On International Accounting Standards

Market Wire, 20050229

The Securities and Exchange Commission today unanimously approved and issued for public comment a concept release regarding the use of international accounting standards. The release seeks feedback from domestic and foreign parties regarding both acceptance of International Accounting Standards Committee standards and the broader issue of shaping a global financial structure for increasingly globalized capital markets.

The release solicits comment regarding the quality of the IASC standards and raises questions regarding what supporting infrastructure is necessary in an environment where issuers and auditors often are multinational organizations, providing financial information in many countries.

The release seeks to identify what important concerns would be raised by acceptance of IASC standards; and then asks for comment on whether the Commission should modify its current requirement for all financial statements to be reconciled to U.S. GAAP.

The release emphasizes a desire to gain knowledge of respondents' first hand experience with IASC standards. In particular, it asks about experiences that (a) issuers have had with applying IASC standards when preparing financial statements; (b) public accountants have had with auditing the application of IASC standards; and (c) investors have had with using financial statements prepared using IASC standards.

A90-day public comment period will commence upon publication of the release in the Federal Register.