US - Countdown to Convergence

In November 2009, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) reaffirmed their commitment to a 2006 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that outlines major convergence projects scheduled for completion by June 2011. The affirmed convergence plan continues the commitment made by the two boards seven years ago in “The Norwalk Agreement” to “make their existing financial reporting standards fully compatible as soon as is practicable.” But it also expands the convergence plan to include the much more ambitious goal of creating new standards where the existing standards of both boards were deemed to need improvement. As a result, many of the MoU projects—and all of the projects covered in this article—are collaborative efforts by the boards to develop entirely new standards. (Read the article Countdown to Convergence in the Journal of Accountancy online.)