Chair of IFRS trustees says U.S., China need to get on board


“In the last 10 years we have gone from almost no economies using international accounting standards, to a world where companies in more than 100 countries … are required or permitted to use IFRS,” said Michael Prada, chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, in addressing the 2012 IOSCO conference last month in Beijing, China. In addition to European Union members, more than two-thirds of G20 countries are now required to use IFRSs, Prada said. “In the last two years alone we have seen Brazil, Canada, Korea, Mexico and Russia all require the use of IFRS, in full and without modification.”  Almost half of global Fortune 500 companies also now report using IFRS. “Therefore, it is clear today that the IFRS Foundation fits the three main criteria that any international standard-setter should meet,” Prada said:

  1. Technical credibility, due to the skills of its staff and board members;
  2. Political legitimacy, due to monitoring board’s oversight; and
  3. Accountability, due to the “remarkable transparency, inclusive nature, and efficiency” of its process.
“I think we can safely say that IFRSs have now achieved critical mass as international standards, and are here to stay,” Prada said. “However, we cannot get the full benefit of those standards without the remaining major economies coming fully on board,” including China, Japan, India, and the United States. More excerpts from his remarks, as reported by Inaudit.com, are available here.

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