Waiting for the SEC's decision on IFRS.

• Position: Editorial

It's anyone's guess as to which way the winds are blowing for changing the way United Slates-based companies report their financials to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The debate continues, having evolved from harmonization to adoption to convergence to endorsement of International Financial Reporting Standards, to the most recent concept, "condorsement."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In this way, the Financial Accounting Standards Board would incorporate new and amended IFRS into U.S. GAAP through an endorsement process, which would give FASB the authority in rare instances to modify IFRS before incorporating the standard. FASB would thus retain authority over U.S. GAAP and a more gradual transition to IFRS.

Much has changed in the 10-plus years that I've been covering this subject. I recall when Denny Beresford, as FASB chairman, favored harmonization with global standards - then just the glint of a dream in the eyes of multinationals and standard setters. It makes sense to have a single set of high-quality global standards, of course. But sense is not always the reason decisions are made.

Much of the first decade of the 2000s, Robert Herz, as FASB chair, and Sir David Tweedie, as chair of the International Accounting Standards Board, were big cheerleaders for the move. Momentum gained, and one would have thought we'd now be post-implementation. Perhaps the financial crisis shed some light on the difficult balance between political needs and accounting requirements - who could say why - but momentum has slowed to a crawl. Subsequently, we are now dealing with a dismal worldwide economy, and it's perhaps not the time to make major changes. We had expected a decision from the SEC by June. We're now told the SEC will comment later this year.

In the meantime, in this issue's cover story, Christiana Ohlgart and and Steve Ernst of...