If the Securities and Exchange Commission decides in 2011 to require public companies to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards, they can expect at least four years to get ready for the requirement, said Mary Schapiro, Chairman of the SEC, in an address to an accounting conference today.
Schapiro said the SEC is still committed to making a decision at some point in 2011 – not necessarily by June as rumored, she said – about whether it will require U.S. public companies to cut over to IFRS to make U.S. financial statements more consistent with reports issued around the world. While comments on the SEC’s work to date doesn’t reflect strong support for a U.S. switch to international rules, they do reflect a common call for plenty of time to adopt IFRS if it is eventually required, she said.
