Clarity In Limbo

“Those who breathed a sigh of relief when current Securities and Exchange Commissioner Mary Shapiro threw her predecessor’s ambitious timeline for the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards into limbo should not get too comfortable: It’s still likely that U.S. accountants will have to learn a whole new set of standards – it’s just that no one knows when. Transparency in Financial Reporting is a good place to start your education: It offers “a concise comparison of IFRS and U.S. GAAP,” including technical analysis of major issues, as well as important points to bear in mind during the inevitable initial adoption of IFRS, paying particular attention, as the title suggests, to issues that affect transparency in financial reporting. At just over 150 pages, it really is concise, and once you’ve read it, while you may not know exactly when IFRS is coming, at least you’ll know what it is.”