UK regulator welcomes SEC decision on financial reporting

News Article - 28 September 2007
Category: Regulatory

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has welcomed the backing of new financial reporting proposals issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The SEC's decision to eliminate the US GAAP-IFRS [Generally Accepted Accounting Principles-International Financial Reporting Standard] reconciliation requirement for non-US companies reflects is backed by the UK regulator based on the judgement that the IFRS provides a high quality set of accounting standards.

Issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), IFRS was introduced in 2005 and has not affected investor confidence in the European markets since its launch, it said.

FRC commented that the cost-savings for non-US issuers will emerge from the removal of the reconciliation requirement and has urges SEC to implement the proposal as soon as possible.

"SEC's proposal marks a significant step in establishing IFRS as issued by the IASB as the only set of accounting standards which has a credible prospect of becoming globally-accepted," FRC chief executive Paul Boyle said.

In recent years, the FRC has conducted independent surveys in order to gain feedback from investors, company directors and auditors on their confidence in UK corporate reporting.

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