FT: Accounting rules in US under attack from Europe

21 February 2002

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The European Commission on Wednesday launched an outspoken attack on US accounting rules, calling on US regulators to scrap its accounting standards in the wake of the Enron collapse in favour of an alternative system to be used in Europe.

'I have asked accountants: was [Enron] just hanky-panky or did the particular nature of US GAAP [Generally Accepted Accounting Principles] enter into the whole game? The answer is yes, it had something to do with the rules of US GAAP,' commissioner Bolkestein said.

The intervention of Mr Bolkestein, whose responsibilities include Europe's financial services markets, will be seen as a direct attack on the US regulatory authorities, which have so far refused to allow companies listed in New York to use International Accounting Standards, the rival system to GAAP.

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