ACCA Report on IFRS Adoption in USA

The ACCA has issued a research related report called the ‘'IFRS in the US: An investor's perspective', which lays down the results of a survey conducted on as many as five hundred United States investors including asset managers, fund managers and professional investment managers. During the survey these investors were asked whether they think that SEC would adopt International Financial Reporting Standards eventually or not. Around fifty seven per cent of the respondents stated that they expect the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt IFRS someday.

Sue Almond, Technical Director at Association of Chartered Certified Accountants stated that more investors are of the opinion adoption of IFRS in US will eventually benefit the economy of United States. He also stated that according to Association of Chartered Certified Accountants’ point of view, adoption of IFRS in America would provide the much required boos to world and US economies as well as to the motif of achieving single set of financial reporting standards globally. Almond further mentioned that the ACCA has recommended the idea of putting the investors at the helm of standard creating procedure globally on a repeated basis and this is precisely why they commissioned the research so that they can understand American investor’s viewpoint with regard to IFRS’s future in America.

The report prepared by ACCA also pointed out several important findings that the investors have noted with regard to IFRS adoption. Some of the findings are:

· Most of the investors who are highly informed were of the opinion that it would take the corporate houses in Unites States at least 4 and half years to get ready for International Financial Reporting Standards.

· The awareness among investors of United States with regard to IFRS is very modest. When questioned only around thirty four per cent of the investors were able to specify the differences between IFRS and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

· Around thirty eight per cent of the investors stated that they could compare the statements that were prepared using IFRS with those that were prepared as per US GAAP.

On the other hand, Hans Hoogervrost, Chairman of the IASB mentioned that the findings of the ACCA are similar to the feedback they got from the community of investors in United States.