US Will Eventually Adopt IFRS Thinks SEC Commissioner

Addressing the American Bar Association International Section, Elisse B. Walter, SEC Commissioner gave a speech in which she stated that the United States will eventually adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards but that would happen after a certain period.

In her speech she covered various topics and also discussed the role of Securities Exchange Commission in reconciling with regulations on a global platform in accordance with Securities Exchange and Commission’s mission. She further suggested that coordination related efforts in certain areas require more time in comparison to the time that their foreign allies would expect.

Specifically with regard to the International Financial Reporting Standards, Commissioner Walter mentioned that the Securities Exchange Commission staff has issued its report on the work related plan of IFRS from the Office of the Chief Accountant. She also stated that she believed that the converged accounting standards are crucial in terms of serving the investors interests in expanding capital markets globally and that SEC cannot include International Financial Reporting Standards unless they are sure that it would serve the investors from United States well.

Walter also pointed out that the commission will not be able to act in certain areas simply to maintain consistency at the international level, if it feels that it is not appropriate thing for the United States investors as well as United States markets.

Walter also indicated other regulatory related matters like swaps regulations, derivatives, monitoring of the finance system with regard to automation related trading as well as markets that are interconnected and unified legal organization identification system that has been proposed.

In the U.S., the public related capital markets are mainly regulated by the SEC, which is basically a government agency. The law permits the Securities and Exchange Commission to prescribe the content and form of statements that have been submitted to it. The Commission has always looked upon the private segment to provide assistance in terms of developing financial reporting related standards, even though it prescribes statement disclosures and presentation related formats and even accounting recognizing as well as measurement related principles too. The Securities and Exchange Commission looks after thirty thousand registrants in addition to twelve thousand public entities.