That’s the argument from Jim Peterson at Re:Balance in his post, Unification of Global Accounting Standards? It’s Time to Call Time.
He is responding to the three-post series from Tom Selling in The Accounting Onion that I summarized here.
Mr. Peterson thinks it’s time to call the game.
His reasons?
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Time to call the game on IFRS adoption and go home?Read More »
Professor Tom Selling provides presents 10 arguments provided by others who are in favor of IFRS and then explains why those arguments are incorrect. Actually, he uses the word false.
He provides some background on how we got to this place and starts the discussion at 10 Claims in Support of IFRS Adoption by the SEC – and Why They are False (Part One of Three).
He continues the discussion in part two and part three.
His discussion is quite lengthy, so get a large, fresh cup of coffee or an extra-large soda and settle in for a long read. Even this recap will run quite long.
Here is his list with my extremely short paraphrase that won’t come close to doing justice. …
Just a quick note for the large number of people landing on my blog today after searching for arguments against IFRS adoption – Be sure to visit Dr. Tom Sellings’ blog, The Accounting Onion.
Three great posts that I plan to comment on later, but you might find valuable today. They were posted this week, so they may not yet be sorting high on the search engines. Check out all three parts.
Ten Claims in Support of IFRS Adoption by the SEC – and Why They are False
You will also want to visit Dr. David Albrecht’s blog, The Summa.
Some of my other posts are here, here, here, and here. Or use the search button on top right corner.
Prof. William F. O’Brien, CPA, has a great survey of the major accounting issues in our future and some suggestions on how to absorb the change that is on the way. His article, Surf’s Up! Wave of Financial Reporting is Coming, is in the January/February edition of California CPA magazine.
Major issues he describes are:
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Don’t know about you, but I’m not perceptive enough at reading the back room maneuvering to figure out what is going in the battle for turf between the AICPA and FASB over Little GAAP and Big GAAP.
I’m smart enough to know there is a fight. See my post here for discussion of AICPA announcing they will set up a new standard-setting body if FAF goes forward with its plan to keep PCSIC (Pic-sic?) under the control of FASB.
In his post Little GAAP – Big GAAP Territorial Fight, John Hufnagle suggests that a few of the FASB’s recent projects are designed to make GAAP more user-friendly for private companies. Here are three illustrations: …
Some clues to interpret behind-the-scenes fight over Little GAAPRead More »
Perhaps it is because I’m attentive to the issue, but it seems doubts are spreading about the wisdom of adopting IFRS.
Rueters had this story: Analysis: Doubts emerge over U.S. move to global accounting
Key thread in this article: there isn’t, and won’t be, a uniform standard for all countries.
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IFRS hasn’t achieved consistency in financial reporting in countries where it has been implemented, even amongst firms in the same industry.
Consistency between countries is low because:
IFRS has been filled with carve-outs, special deals, exceptions, and time-freezes; in short, countries are adopting their own national brands of IFRS
In addition, principles-based accounting hasn’t cleared up the off-balance-sheet financing issue where IFRS has been adopted.
These are some of the secondary criticisms that Professors Anthony Catanach and Edward Ketz raise in their post, IFRS is for Criminals.
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Another critique of IFRS – it requires honest judgmentRead More »
In a long post in advance of the roundtable held this week by the SEC on IRFS, Professor Tom Selling gives lots of inside-baseball info on the roundtable. See the post No News from the SEC on its IFRS Roundtable is Bad News
Later in the article he raises some superb questions he would like to see asked, but doubts will be discussed. Some examples:
Why are we doing this?
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A few troublesome questions that haven’t been asked about IFRSRead More »
That is my (biased) summary of the reasons to adopt IFRS, as explained in an article by Professor Christian Leuz, Accountants of the World Unite!: Business Class
Having already taken an implied position that IFRS is not a good thing for the United States, I guess I will jump in further.
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Today I’ll provide a brief glance at the huge end of the accounting world. I’m intentionally a one-person firm providing attestation services. My market is small nonprofits. I perceive most of the visitors to my blogs are from small CPA firms and small NPOs. As a result, all the readers here and I have a view of the small end of the accounting world.
Today’s questions: will US GAAP ever converge with IFRS, and what do financial statements look like for a really big company.
Will convergence with IFRS ever happened?
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Journal of Accountancy has started a five-part interview with FASB Chairman Leslie Seidman discussing the revenue recognition exposure draft. First part can be found here.
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