The Securities and Exchange Commission staff issued a final report this summer on its work plan on International Financial Reporting Standards. While the report provides a thorough and thoughtful discussion of the many areas addressed by the SEC staff in their over two-year examination of whether, when, and how to incorporate IFRS into financial reporting by U.S. issuers, it does not contain any recommendations to the Commission on a potential path forward.
Moreover, the introductory note to the report states that “additional analysis and consideration of this threshold policy question is necessary before any decision by the Commission concerning the incorporation of IFRS into the financial reporting system for U.S. issuers can occur.” With potential changes in leadership of the SEC a distinct possibility following the presidential election, it now seems that any further action by the Commission on this important matter is unlikely to occur until well into 2013 at the earliest.
