SEC and EU chief to discuss accounting issues in London

SEC chief Mary Schapiro coming to London to talk accounting

The head of the US securities regulator will meet in London for her first
meeting with senior accounting officials since re-affirming America’s commitment
to international accounting.

Mary Schapiro, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),
will meet with EU commissioner for internal market and services Michel Barnier,
among other international regulators, to discuss developments in international
accounting.

It’s the first meeting of senior regulators since Schapiro’s February
announcment when she said the US would not make a decision international
standards adoption until next year.

The final decision, she said at the time, will come down to the outcome of an
SEC investigation on the impacts of international accounting rules for the US
economy and whether the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and its
US counterpart the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) can arrive at a
set of converged standards by next year.

The meeting also comes as Europe considers whether it will adopt the IASB’s
fair value measurement standard, reformed through in the wake of the crisis. The
IASB was urged to reform the standard quickly in late 2008 by Europe, however
the European Commission has still not adopted it six months after it was
released.

The meeting will also discuss recent changes to the IASB’s constitution,
released in February, which saw the trustees state that convergence with US
accounting rules was not “an objective by itself”.

FUrther reading:
Trustees
enhance public accountability through new Monitoring Board, complete first part
of Constitution Review