Accounting Standards

U.S. and EU representatives reaffirmed their commitment to open investment policies at the second meeting of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC), which took place in Brussels, Belgium, on May 13. They also moved forward on removing restrictions on U.S. poultry exports to the EU and addressing EU concerns about U.S. approval procedures for certain electrical products. The American delegation was led by Daniel Price, Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs and U.S. chair of the TEC. European Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen headed the EU side. 

2008: U.S., EU Discuss Investment, Poultry at Second Transatlantic Economic Council Meeting (May 13, 2008)

The European Commission, the Financial Services Agency of Japan, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a statement November 7, 2007, proposing changes to strengthen the institutional framework of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) Foundation and encourage the Foundation's related efforts, while emphasizing the continued importance of an independent standard-setting process. 

2007: SEC Takes Action to Improve Consistency of Disclosure to U.S. Investors in Foreign Companies (Nov 15, 2007) | New Transatlantic Economic Council Works to Dismantle Regulatory Barriers (includes joint statement) (Nov 9, 2007) | U.S., EU, Others Responsible for Capital Market Regulation Work to Enhance IASC Foundation Governance (Nov 7, 2007) | PCAOB Chair, European Commissioner Discuss Furthering Cooperation in the Oversight of Audit Firms (Mar 6, 2007)

The SEC and the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) published a joint work plan in August 2006 that will be implemented immediately. The work plan is a direct output from the December 2005 meeting between SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and CESR Chairman Arthur Docters van Leeuwen, at which they emphasized their desire to build on the dialogue between the SEC and CESR in a concrete and practical manner. The work plan will serve to guide the SEC-CESR Dialogue in the immediate future. (See previous announcement relating to the SEC-CESR Dialogue at http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2004-75.htm.) The main focus of the work plan is the application by internationally active companies of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in the United States and the European Union, respectively. In addition, the staff of the SEC and CESR will forge a closer dialogue on the modernization of financial reporting and disclosure information technology, and regulatory platforms for risk management. Charles McCreevy, European Commissioner for Internal Markets and Services, issued a statement welcoming publication of the Work Plan.

2006: SEC and CESR Launch Work Plan Focused on Financial Reporting Developing: Cross Atlantic Financial Markets (Aug 2, 2006) | SEC Announces Next Steps for Sarbanes-Oxley Implementation (May 17, 2006) | SEC's Cox, EU's McCreevy Discuss Reconciling Accounting Standards (Feb 8, 2006) | SEC's Atkins Remarks at Brussels Financial Services Conference (Jan 31, 2006)

In December 2005, Ethiopis Tafara, Director of International Affairs, affirmed the SEC's commitment to the "roadmap" that highlights the steps needed to eliminate the US GAAP reconciliation requirement for foreign private issuers that use International Financial Reporting Standards, and to working with Europe as it implements IFRS. Tafara said "Convergence is an ambitious goal...We fully realize that, in the short-term, IFRS and US GAAP will not be the same. Indeed, financial statements prepared using IFRS likely will be significantly different from those prepared according to US GAAP. Allowing the use of two different sets of accounting standards would be a significant change for the SEC." A month later, on January 31, 2006, SEC Commissioner Atkins told a Brussels audience "I expect that, consistent with the roadmap and the ongoing encouraging progress on convergence, the day will come soon when companies conforming to IFRS will be able to raise capital in the United States without reconciling their results to GAAP."

2005: SEC's Tafara Discusses Intl. Reporting Standards with European Accountants (Dec 1, 2005) | SEC's Atkins Speaks to the EP Financial Service Forum (Oct 26, 2005) | U.S. Securities Chair Meets with EU Internal Market Commissioner (Apr 25, 2005)

2004: U.S. Extends Date for Oversight of Non-U.S. Auditors (Mar 10, 2004) | U.S. Securities Regulator Seeks More Cooperation with EU (Jan 27, 2004) | SEC's Tafara: U.S. Securities Market Integration, Cooperation with EU (Jan 27, 2004)

2002: SEC, European Commission Praise Actions by FASB, IASB (Oct 29, 2002) | SEC: Toward the Globalization of Accounting Standards (Apr 18, 2002)