USA: IFRS in the US - work plan progress report

The Securities and Exchange Commission has published a progress report in respect of its Work Plan for the Consideration of Incorporating International Financial Reporting Standards into the Financial Reporting System for U.S. Issuers: see here (pdf). With regard to corporate governance standards, the progress report notes:

The Work Plan noted that the Staff will analyze the impact on compliance with corporate governance standards, should the Commission determine in the future to incorporate IFRS into the financial reporting system for U.S. issuers by: [a] Assessing the potential effects on corporate governance and related concerns of such incorporation [and] [b] Determining possible approaches to address corporate governance concerns and the extent of, logistics for, and estimated time necessary to undertake these approaches.

In August, the Commission solicited public comment to aid in the Staff’s analysis of these components [here, pdf]. The request for comment solicited feedback regarding the challenges that issuers may encounter in identifying audit committee financial experts and in satisfying corporate governance and related quantitative stock exchange listing requirements, as well as, more broadly, compliance with other aspects of corporate governance that may result from the incorporation of IFRS into the financial reporting system for U.S. issuers. The comment period ended on October 18, 2010, and the Staff is analyzing the input from the comment letters received and determining the nature of further public input. In addition, the Staff may meet with or otherwise engage issuers and others, including those who responded to the request for comment, to facilitate the Staff’s understanding of issuers’ perspectives on these components".