February 2010

The long and winding roadmap

From Accountancy Age.

Accounting standards convergence is at a major crossroads that could throw the project off track - unless the US and Europe find the will to work it out.

It’s a pale, frosty day in London. From inside the imposing, white building at 30 Cannon Street, Robert Herz, who prefers to be called Bob, can just see the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral if he leans back in his boardroom chair.

He’s a long way from home. It’s a 16-hour flight from Washington, and the winter gusts do little to refresh the weary here. Voices fill the small conference room – Australian, Indian, Japanese, Scottish and other, less recognisable accents.

Herz remains silent. Some say he seems quiet – tired perhaps.He leans forward to speak. A handful of public observers at the back of the room, mostly accountants, pick up their pens. Poised.

Two cameras silently swivel, focus, beaming his broad face across the world, and on to three flat-screen televisions in the room. “I think it is all or nothing if we converge on this,” he says in a smooth, rounded American accent.

Convergence has become the major goal for the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the body Herz chairs. By 2011, both the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and FASB need to find common ground on each and every accounting standard. The goal is to create a truly global financial language. Read full article.