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Roundtable Agenda: Practical Issues Surrounding the Use of IFRS in the U.S. in Recent Years, and Its Potential Expanded Use in Future Years
Monday, December 17, 2007
| 9:00 a.m. | Opening remarks
Chairman Christopher Cox |
| 9:10 a.m. | Introduction of Issues
John W. White, Division of Corporation Finance
In 2002, the European Union adopted a new regulation mandating EU companies to report their financial results using IFRS, beginning with the 2005 financial year. This requirement, which provided for a three-year transition period, applied to over 7,000 companies. Many other countries have also transitioned to IFRS financial reporting in the past five years, and IFRS is now mandated or permitted in over 100 countries. The result of this has been that many overseas companies listed in the U.S. have attracted U.S. investors — so that now, our domestic markets have two competing accounting systems.
- How have investors, analysts, underwriters and other financial statement users in the U.S. adapted to IFRS financial reporting by U.S. listed companies over the last few years?
- How could the experiences of the EU and other countries in preparing their investors to use IFRS financial reporting be beneficial to us in assisting U.S. investors to use IFRS?
- How did international audit firms train their workforce to audit IFRS financial statements in such a relatively short period? What lessons are to be learned from this experience for us in the U.S.?
- What were the challenges that Europe and other nations dealt with in revising auditing and accounting training and curricula to teach IFRS? Are there lessons for us?
- How should the process and timetable to converge U.S. GAAP and IFRS affect the potential future ability of U.S. issuers to use IFRS in the U.S.?
- How did European and other issuers that have recently transitioned to IFRS adapt their personnel and systems to implement IFRS financial reporting? Are their experiences relevant to us in the U.S.?
| | 9:15 a.m. | Panel One — The U.S. Market’s Perspective
Moderators:
Wayne E. Carnall, Division of Corporation Finance
Conrad W. Hewitt, Office of the Chief Accountant
Participants:
James T. Glerum, Jr., UBS Investment Bank
Mick Homan, The Procter & Gamble Company
Gary Illiano, Grant Thornton LLP
Ross G. Jennings, University of Texas at Austin
Danita K. Ostling, Ernst & Young LLP
Margaret M. Smyth, United Technologies Corporation
Arleen R. Thomas, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
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| 11:15 a.m. | Break
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| 11:30 a.m. | Panel Two — The Global Perspective
Moderators:
Paul M. Dudek, Division of Corporation Finance
Julie A. Erhardt, Office of the Chief Accountant
Participants:
Jeffrey H. Bunzel, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC
Paul G. Cherry, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants
Robert H. Herz, Financial Accounting Standards Board
Dina M. Maher, Fitch Ratings, Inc.
Jack T. McGinnis, HSBC North America Holdings Inc.
Samuel J. Ranzilla, KPMG LLP
Richard Thorpe, United Kingdom Financial Services Authority
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| 12:45 p.m. | Break for day |
http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/ifrsroadmap/ifrsround121707-agenda.htm
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