Commission report on third countries GAAP equivalence

22 April 2008

The report takes the view that Japanese and United States GAAP both meet the criteria of equivalence to IFRS. Chinese GAAP will continue to be accepted, but since it moved to IFRS for the first time in 2007, more information on its implementation is needed. The Paper also concludes that an exemption until 2011 should be granted to Canada and South Korea in view of their ongoing efforts to move to IFRS in the near future.

 

The Paper also considers countries which are already successfully applying IFRS. These include, for instance: Australia; Hong Kong; New Zealand; Singapore and South Africa. Israel has made IFRS mandatory for all listed companies except for banks and dual listed companies as from January 2008. In these cases the Paper calls for an explicit and unreserved statement of such a compliance with IFRS to be included in the audited financial statements.

 

The Commission is expected to present legislative proposals within the coming weeks.

 

Press release

Report

Annex

© Graham Bishop