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Roundtable Agenda: IFRS in the U.S. Markets
Thursday, December 13, 2007
| 9:00 a.m. | Opening Remarks
Chairman Christopher Cox |
| 9:10 a.m. | Introduction of Issues
Conrad W. Hewitt, Office of the Chief Accountant
International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) are now mandated or permitted in over 100 countries. The SEC recently approved rule amendments permitting foreign private issuers in the U.S. to report their financial results using IFRS without reconciliation to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("U.S. GAAP"), and issued a concept release to collect ideas about whether domestic issuers in the U.S. should also be permitted to use IFRS in lieu of U.S. GAAP. Many foreign capital markets permit different accounting standards to co-exist without requiring reconciliation to a single accounting standard.
- What has been the experience in the last few years for U.S. investors dealing with two accounting systems in the U.S. capital markets – IFRS and U.S. GAAP?
- What will be the long-range effect of allowing foreign companies the choice of whether to use IFRS or U.S. GAAP, and denying that same choice to U.S. issuers?
- If the same choice were to be extended to domestic issuers, what would be the effect on U.S. investors, issuers, and markets?
- How do the experiences of foreign capital markets with multiple accounting standards inform this discussion?
- What would be the advantages and disadvantages for U.S. investors if U.S. issuers were able to use IFRS?
- How does the current co-existence of two accounting standards in the U.S. markets affect capital formation? How would this assessment change if domestic issuers were given the same choice that foreign issuers have in U.S. markets?
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| 9:15 a.m. | Panel One — The U.S. Market’s Perspective
Moderators:
James L. Kroeker, Office of the Chief Accountant
John W. White, Division of Corporation Finance
Participants:
Wendy Hambleton, BDO Seidman, LLP
Matthew F. Hilzinger, Exelon Corporation
Gregg L. Nelson, International Business Machines, Inc.
James V. Schnurr, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Hal S. Scott, Harvard Law School
Gerald I. White, Grace & White, Inc.
| | 11:00 a.m. | Break |
| 11:15 a.m. | Panel Two — The Global Perspective
Moderators:
Julie A. Erhardt, Office of the Chief Accountant
Ethiopis Tafara, Office of International Affairs
Participants:
Neri Bukspan, Standard & Poor’s Credit Market Services
Noreen M. Culhane, NYSE Euronext
George R. Evans, OppenheimerFunds, Inc.
David B. Kaplan, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Mark H. Lang, University of North Carolina
Jeffrey P. Mahoney, Council of Institutional Investors
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| 12:45 p.m. | Break for day |
http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/ifrsroadmap/ifrsround121307-agenda.htm
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