(WASHINGTON, October 22, 2010) – The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) has asked the G-20 nations to delay the June 2011 deadline to merge U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) regarding lease accounting to allow time to deliberate on several proposed financial reporting changes.
The request by AFP came in a letter to the South Korean Minister of Strategy and Finance as South Korea prepares to host a meeting of the G-20 nations in November.
“The imposed deadline interferes with the process of standard setting,” said Salome J. Tinker, CPA, Director, Accounting & Financial Reporting for AFP. “This process is one of the key points the Securities Exchange Commission will consider as it evaluates whether the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is able to take over as the standard-setting body and commit to the United States' adoption of IFRS.”
Tinker added, “While global standards are needed, the leasing issue is but one example of how the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the IASB are rushing to merge USGAAP and IFRS in the name of convergence. It would be counterintuitive and costly for companies to have to converge or adopt bad standards that will have to be reworked again.”
To read the letter, signed by AFP and 23 other organizations, go to www.AFPonline.org/G20.
