IAS - some longer term vews on IFRS by Eddy Wymeersch
24 February 2011
Prof. Eddy Wymeersch reflects on the longer-term challenges of the International Accounting Standards, and the challenges that lay ahead.
The IFRS have been an impressive success story being applied by about two thirds of the world. Essentially the US remains outside, at least until further notice as the SEC is planning to make a new move in 2011, while “marking to market” has been announced to be open for a more flexible reading. The main objective will be to keep the IFRS truly worldwide, what is a valuable public good, but may be difficult to achieve. There is a risk of differences in rulemaking, in interpretation and in application. Strong monitoring will be needed to keep the IFRS identical all over the world.
National differences in accounting rules and interpretation may be due to different needs: shareholder vs. creditor protection. This divide also characterises several company law provisions, and should be overcome.
Full paper
© Eddy Wymeersch
