Japan allows voluntary IFRS adoption

Japan's Financial Services Authority put pressure on the United States to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) after saying it would allow voluntary domestic use of the standards. Japan had been the biggest country after the US to hold out on adopting the standards. "The FSA's decision to permit domestic use of IFRS represents a first step towards a mandatory use of IFRS in Japan, and is an important milestone on the path towards global standards," said International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Chairman Sir David Tweedie in a statement. (Read the article Japan Allows Voluntary IFRS Adoption at WebCPA.)