The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will join the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF), the new advisory group for the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) announced yesterday.
The ASAF was established earlier this year by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation to improve cooperation among worldwide standard setters and advise the IASB as it develops International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
“The FASB’s membership on the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum is an opportunity to represent U.S. interests in the IASB’s standard-setting process and to continue the process of improving and converging U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and IFRS,” said Jeffrey J. Diermeier, chairman of the FAF Board of Trustees.
“The convergence effort, which began with the Norwalk Agreement of 2002, has been a major success and has delivered significant benefits to investors and other users of financial statements around the world,” Diermeier added.
The FASB was nominated for membership on the ASAF by the FAF Board of Trustees, which oversees both the FASB and its sister standard-setting board, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). The IFRS Foundation, which oversees the IASB, announced today in London that it has selected the FASB to join the ASAF.
“The FAF Trustees believe that the commitments made by both the IFRS Foundation and the FAF in connection with FASB’s membership on the ASAF are consistent with the Trustees’ view of the long-term process of converging accounting standards,” Diermeier added.
The IFRS Foundation will ask ASAF members to support and contribute to the Foundation in its mission to develop, in the public interest, “a single set of high quality, understandable, enforceable globally accepted financial reporting standards.”
The IFRS Foundation in turn will pledge to respect the independence of the ASAF members, recognizing that ASAF members “operate under their own specific national mandates.” The Foundation will further commit to avoid undermining or compromising the legal rights and obligations of the ASAF members within their jurisdictions.
FASB Chairman Leslie F. Seidman said: “The FASB looks forward to participating in the Accounting Standards Advisory Forum and working with other standard setters to contribute to the ongoing improvement and convergence of global accounting standards.” She added, “We also look forward to working with other standard setters to augment and improve the Conceptual Framework, which will lay the groundwork for consistent, high-quality standards.”
The Financial Accounting Foundation is responsible for the oversight, administration, and finances of both the Financial Accounting Standards Board and its counterpart for state and local governments, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. The FAF also is responsible for selecting the members of both Boards and their respective Advisory Councils.