Financial Regulatory Forum

By Huw Jones

LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) – The world’s top accounting bodies are on track to thrash out a common set of rules by the middle of next year, the International Accounting Standards Board said on Tuesday.

The G20 group of countries set the ambitious deadline last year to make it simpler for cross-border companies and investors but differences over how to value some complex assets have raised concerns about the timetable.

Last month the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it would commit to a new work plan that would delay any move to international standards until at least 2015.

The IASB, whose rules are used by listed companies in over 115 countries, including the European Union but not the United States, said it has stepped up meetings with its U.S. peer, the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

“In our soon to be published report, the Boards will state that despite the challenging technical issues to resolve, we remain on schedule to achieve the June 2011 target,” IASB Chairman David Tweedie told EU finance ministers in a statement made available to the media.

By Huw Jones

LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) – The hunt for a new chairman of the world’s top accounting standard setter is sparking discrete jostling for a job Asian candidates are seen having the edge as economic influence shifts east.

International Accounting Standards Board Chairman David Tweedie stands down in June 2011 after a decade spent transforming an obscure committee into a board whose rules are effectively law in over 120 countries, including the European Union.

Japan, Canada, India, Korea and Brazil are also adopting IASB rules, with China bringing its domestic standards in line too. The United States is left increasingly isolated as it decides how to join the club and when.

By Emily Chasan
NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Proposed changes to mark-to-market accounting rules are likely to look similar on both sides of the Atlantic in the end, despite a current controversy about how far to expand the rules, the top global accounting rulemaker said.

(more…)

By Huw Jones
LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) – The top accounting rule setter said on Wednesday that U.S. plans to widen the scope of a rule blamed for amplifying the credit crunch was unacceptable, raising doubts over a 2011 deadline for a global set of accounting rules.

(more…)