The Convergence Blog™

"Saying Goodbye to U.S. GAAP"

Excellent article by Ramona Dzinkowski in the June 2007 issue of Strategic Finance magazine: "Saying Goodbye to U.S. GAAP" (membership required).

"A Conversation with Bruce Pounder" at AccountingWEB.com

On June 15, 2007, the Top Story at AccountingWEB.com was "A conversation with Bruce Pounder: Accountants cannot ignore convergence". The interview gave me the opportunity to explain the phenomenon of Convergence and why ALL U.S. accounting professionals are likely to be impacted by it.

"IFRS: Coming to America"

I highly recommend Lawrence M. Gill's article "IFRS: Coming to America" appearing in the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Accountancy. As Gill states in his article, "IFRS is unquestionably and inexorably in the future of American CPAs, and the future is now."

"How To Make Choice Between GAAP, IFRS"

My observations on the future of U.S. GAAP and IFRSs were quoted in the article "How To Make Choice Between GAAP, IFRS" by Tammy Whitehouse in the May 22, 2007 issue of Compliance Week (subscription required). Key Points:

• Both U.S. GAAP and IFRSs will continue to change significantly over many years prior to their ultimate convergence with each other.
• In the meantime, U.S. companies face growing opportunities and incentives to switch from U.S. GAAP to IFRSs.
• Because IFRSs are country-neutral and U.S. GAAP is becoming less country-specific, financial managers should prepare now to implement country-neutral accounting standards within the next five years.

"Debunked: Three Myths About Convergence"

My latest article, "Debunked: Three Myths About Convergence", was published in the May 21st issue of the SmartPros Accounting News & Insights newsletter.

"[M]any U.S. accounting professionals remain unaware of the impact that the international convergence of accounting standards will have on their jobs in the short run and on their careers in the long run. Worse still, some professionals have embraced counter-productive myths about convergence." The article debunks three of those myths.

"IFRS vs. GAAP: Two Worlds Collide"

My observations on the differences between International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) and U.S. GAAP were quoted in the article "IFRS vs. GAAP: Two Worlds Collide" by Tammy Whitehouse in the May 8, 2007 issue of Compliance Week (subscription required).