NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) – The world’s top accountants are warning that plans by the United States to move to global accounting standards are vulnerable to major delays and the process could get very politicized.

In interviews during last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, top executives from three of the Big Four accounting firms said discussions over a roadmap to move U.S. companies to international standards were reaching a crucial point.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been reviewing public comments on a roadmap that would allow U.S. companies to use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by 2014. However, it is unclear whether SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro favors the timeline as it was drawn up under her predecessor Christopher Cox.

SEC officials said late last year that they are likely to consider further action early this year. The SEC wasn’t immediately available for comment on Wednesday.

“I don’t think you are going to rush to a global set of standards that everybody has bought into anytime soon,” said Bob Moritz, the U.S. Chairman at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

He said that the original date of 2014 for one set of rules could easily extend to 2020. “I think it possibly could be then – I hope not, because I am a firm believer,” he said.

Moritz said that the CEOs of U.S. companies still had some major questions about moving to one set of rules, especially given many were still trying to dig their companies out of the financial crisis.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Australia will find it very difficult to attract new private equity investments while a tax dispute remains unresolved, warned Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of one of the most powerful private equity firms, Blackstone Group <BX.N>.

In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Schwarzman said a standoff between the Australian Taxation office and U.S. buyout group TPG <TPG.UL> over the tax treatment of the A$1.58 billion ($1.42 billion) profit it made selling out of department store group Myer <MYR.AX> has had an impact on the investment climate.

“What it will do of course will be to dramatically chill any future investment until this matter is resolved one way or the other,” said Schwarzman.

He said there appeared to be disagreement in the government in Australia as to how their laws apply.

Carlyle Group <CYL.UL> co-founder David Rubenstein, who also attended the forum that ended on Sunday, declined to comment on the subject.

Other private equity company executives at Davos said it was unclear if the tax question would become a longer-term issue.

Australia’s government trade agency has been gathering opinion from major global buyout firms to see if they are deterred from investing in Australia after the country’s tax office hit TPG with a large tax bill on the Myer deal.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – The manic dealmaking of the years before the financial crisis may be some way off, but acquisitions were certainly back on the agenda for the CEOs of many companies attending the World Economic Forum in Davos over the past week.

Savage cost cutting, capital raising and debt refinancing mean that a lot of the more profitable companies now have strong enough balance sheets to be opportunistic if a deal is presented. The debt markets are also open again to help finance deals, and market gains mean their shares can be used as currency in transactions.

Buying growth through purchases may also be more attractive than trying to expand current businesses organically, given concerns about how fast the economies of Europe and the United States will recover this year.

But the CEOs are generally looking for bolt-on acquisitions, not massive deals that transform their businesses.

Take Mike Fries, for example. As chief executive of pay-TV company Liberty Global <LBTYA.O> he is eager to expand beyond the 15 million subscribers Liberty has across 10 countries in Europe.

“We are opportunistic on the M&A front,” Fries said. “If something came up that fits us perfectly we would have to look at it.”

He said that the strength of high-yield debt markets was fueling such activity. It took less than two days for the company to raise enough money for the $3 billion acquisition of Germany’s Unitymedia at the end of last year.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 31 (Reuters) – The top executive was on a roll — Barack Obama didn’t know what he was doing, he didn’t understand business, he didn’t realize knee-jerk pronouncements could destroy jobs.

It was a private, five-minute, expletive-filled tirade against the U.S. president for this reporter’s benefit. Welcome to one aspect of the World Economic Forum’s annual schmoozefest.

This unique event — a gathering of several thousand of the members of the world’s business and political elites for debate, dealmaking and a fair amount of partying in a ski resort in the Alps — is in many ways an annual celebration for capitalists.

But this is a very dysfunctional family.

For the second successive year, the recriminations arising from the financial crisis were a dominant theme.

Sure, the global economy looks better – people are no longer talking about financial Armageddon, while some CEOs are talking about investing more, buying companies and even hiring.

But many times when executives talked about a recovery, they also used words like “fragile” and then mumbled about whether the battle between bankers and politicians could upset it all.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 31 (Reuters) – The heads of three of the largest private equity firms in the world expressed optimism that 2010 will be a stronger year for acquisitions and for sales of companies already in their portfolios.

However, in interviews with Reuters while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos in the past few days, they had varying views over whether the size of deals could start to head back up to the $10 billion mark, or even above, from the post-financial crisis limits in the $3 billion to $5 billion range.

David Rubenstein, the co-founder of Carlyle Group [CYL.UL], said he sees all the four key metrics for the business taking a “fairly dramatic move in the right direction.

“More deal volume and value, much more on distributions, much more in terms of fund raising,” he said, adding that the valuations for private equity holdings had now risen for four successive quarters.

During the financial crisis, private equity firms were largely locked out of the credit markets making it tough for them to finance leveraged buyouts, while the equities markets were so weak that initial public offerings of existing investments became very difficult.

However, in the past six months the credit markets have opened up more, at least for small or medium-sized deals, and the recovery in stock markets has made IPOs achievable once again.

Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive of private equity giant Blackstone Group <BX.N>, said that typically the first year of economic recovery after a recession has been a good one for making private equity investments. “Historically, the returns have been double or triple what they were at the top of the economic cycle,” he said.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Leading bankers seeking to quell a political backlash over their role in the financial crisis agreed with regulators on Saturday that new banking rules should be globally consistent.

A closed-door meeting of dozens of financial sector heavyweights on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum made some progress on bank capital and liquidity requirements, and legal structures, participants said.

But the bankers and regulators skirted the issue of a global insurance levy to make sure that banks — not taxpayers — pay for future mistakes, and no firm agreements were reached.

Larry Summers, top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, who is under fire from Wall Street over his plans to curb big banks, said the “vigorous, constructive discussion” had raised the level of understanding.

Financial Stability Board chief Mario Draghi said global regulators were working on proposals for a central agency to manage bank failures, and mulling ideas for capital surcharges or contingent capital for institutions deemed too big to fail.

“We want to have an authority or an agency which has the power, the funds, the budget and the competence to manage failure in an orderly way,” he told Reuters Insider television.

But other participants were skeptical of any cross-border body that would impinge on national sovereignty.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Brazil’s top finance official painted a rosy picture of an economy that was growing strongly enough for the government to remove some stimulus measures but was not getting so overheated that inflationary pressures were becoming a problem.

Talking during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Finance Minister Guido Mantega also said that he was pleased that the real currency had fallen about 7 percent against the U.S. dollar this year, though he indicated he expected a further decline.

“The Brazilian economy is undergoing growth which is sustainable growth and is not going to generate inflation. I don’t see any signs of inflation,” he told a news conference.

That meant the government didn’t need to cut fuel taxes or take other such anti-inflationary moves, he told Reuters in an interview.

Mantega confirmed Brazilian media reports that the government had no plans to renew tax breaks that have helped automakers and home appliances manufacturers boost sales as there is no need for the additional stimulus.

“We are reducing the stimulus now because the economy is recovering fast and I think that they don’t need more governmental help,” he told Reuters.

Mantega said that Brazil’s internal demand was growing at a 7 percent annual rate and that the overall economy was forecast to grow at 5 to 5.5 percent this year.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – The world’s top bankers are at odds about how to fight back against a global push for tougher financial regulation, with commercial and investment banks struggling to reach agreement.

Top executives from leading U.S. and European banks held behind-the-scenes talks on their response, people attending the talks said. But a deal has proved elusive.

Regulators and policymakers, meanwhile, appeared to have struck some common ground at the World Economic Forum, agreeing on the need to ensure changes to the rulebook — from banker pay to lenders’ activities — are global, and not unilateral.

The annual forum in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos has reverberated with U.S. President Barack Obama’s plans to curb the activities of major banks, particularly betting in financial markets with their own money, sparking a fierce debate on the necessary overhaul and the risks of excessive correction.

“We had a global problem … we have to find a global solution,” European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Friday. “We are bound to succeed. But it has to be done very, very carefully, seriously at the global level.”

Ministers and officials from G20 nations, the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Board held informal talks at Davos on Friday, which Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said centered on mutual assessment of financial systems.

“There was unanimity that we ought to go ahead … and use the work of the FSB and the G20 and try to get the implementation done this year, 2010,” he told Reuters.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said he believed the process that led to creation of a unity government last February is irreversible and that it is time for Western donors and investors to return to the country.

Speaking to a small group of journalists at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Tsvangirai said he expects a referendum on a new constitution around October of this year, leading to elections in 2011.

“I believe that the inclusive government process is a process which is irreversible,” he said.

He stressed that foreign investors should be reassured that the country was not sliding backward. “Certainly the country is moving forward, and this is a time to look at the country in a more positive light.”

His optimistic comments were in contrast to news last week that Zimbabwe had suspended moves to draw up a new constitution due to political bickering over funding. That was seen as dealing a blow to hopes for free and fair elections next year after the intended adoption of the charter.

Tsvangirai and his arch rival President Robert Mugabe signed a power-sharing agreement in September 2008, which led to formation of the unity government last February and an agreement to write a new constitution within 18 months.

Western donors, expected to provide the bulk of what Zimbabwe needs to revive its severely distressed economy, are reluctant to release aid without broad political reforms.