Approximately 100 countries require or permit the use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).
September 2002 – The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the IASB issue a memorandum of understanding (the Norwalk Agreement) wherein they “acknowledged their commitment to high-quality, compatible accounting standards that could be used for both domestic and cross-border financial reporting.” The memorandum notes that the Boards have “pledged to use their best efforts (a) to make their existing financial reporting standards fully compatible as soon as is practicable and (b) to coordinate their future work programs to ensure that once achieved, compatibility is maintained.”
February 2006 – The Boards issue A Roadmap for Convergence between IFRSs and US GAAP – 2006 - 2008; Memorandum of Understanding between the FASB and the IASB and reaffirmed their commitment to the convergence of U.S. GAAP and IFRS.
September 2008 – The Boards issue an update to their 2006 Memorandum of Understanding. The update reports on the progress the Boards have made since 2006 and establishes a goal of completing their major joint projects by 2011.
November 2008 – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issues its proposed Roadmap for the Potential Use of Financial Statements Prepared in Accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards by U.S. Issuers (the Roadmap). The Roadmap proposes milestones that the SEC would assess in 2011 in order to determine whether to proceed with rulemaking to mandate the use of IFRS by all domestic issuers.
November 2009 – The FASB and the IASB issue a joint statement, FASB and IASB Reaffirm Commitment to Memorandum of Understanding, describing their plans and milestone targets for achieving the goal of completing major joint Memorandum of Understanding projects by the end of June 2011.
February 2010 – The SEC issues a statement reaffirming support for convergence of accounting standards, but states that more information is needed to allow them to make a well-informed decision on whether to incorporate the use of IFRS, as issued by the IASB, by U.S. issuers in its financial reporting system. The SEC staff pledge to develop and execute a work plan to gather information to evaluate and provide further information to the SEC.
Although there are many issues that remain to be addressed, many observers believe that the U.S. capital markets will adopt IFRS in the not too distant future. This site houses a growing body of IFRS resources, including material you can use to compare and reconcile U.S. GAAP and IFRS.

