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The Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have held their ninth meeting to accelerate convergence of Japanese generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs).
As part of this meeting, representatives of the IASB provided an update on the progress of projects described by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreed in 2006 by the IASB and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and updated in 2008.
The convergence project to eliminate major differences between Japanese GAAP and IFRSs in use was completed on schedule at the end of 2008, and continuous efforts towards convergence of IFRSs and Japanese GAAP as described by the Tokyo Agreement are progressing well.
ASBJ representatives provided an overview of the Draft Interim Report Application of IFRS in Japan issued in February 2009 regarding potential use by listed companies in Japan.
Ikuo Nishikawa, Chairman of the ASBJ, said the ASBJ will continue to work with the IASB towards convergence of high quality global accounting standard in order to ensure transparency in the Japanese financial and capital markets and to enhance international comparability among companies.
The next meeting of the boards is scheduled for September 2009 in London.