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Highlighting the high profile of the issue, the SEC voted unanimously to issue a Statement at an open Commission meeting on Wednesday regarding its current plans regarding IFRS. It’s interesting that the open meeting format was used to approve a statement. Here’s Chair Schapiro’s opening remarks.

As noted in this press release, the Statement:

– Reaffirms the SEC’s support for a single, globally accepted set of accounting standards (although the SEC still hasn’t made a final decision to move to IFRS yet)
– Describes six categories of issues that need to be analyzed in an upcoming SEC Staff Workplan (there will be progress reports given on the Workplan, starting no later than this October)
– Describes milestones that need to occur before 2011 (including the SEC’s study of certain issues and completion of convergence projects under the FASB-IASB Memorandum of Understanding) if the SEC is to move to IFRS
– Notes the first time that US companies would report under such a IFRS system (if one was adopted) would be no earlier than 2015 (the Work Plan will further evaluate this timeline)

PCAOB Staff Posts FAQs on Engagement Quality Review

Last week, the PCAOB published a “Staff Question and Answer” on the documentation requirements of Auditing Standard No. 7, the engagement quality review standard that provides a framework for the engagement quality reviewer to objectively evaluate the significant judgments made and related conclusions reached by the engagement team in forming an overall conclusion about the engagement. This set of FAQs was encouraged to be created by the SEC when it approved AS #7 last month.

More on “The Mentor Blog”

We continue to post new items daily on our blog – “The Mentor Blog” – for TheCorporateCounsel.net members. Members can sign up to get that blog pushed out to them via email whenever there is a new entry by simply inputting their email address on the left side of that blog. Here are some of the latest entries:

– Canadian OSC Staff Urges Better IFRS Disclosure
– Social Media Policies: No Paranoia Necessary
– Analysis: Ability to Backdate Board Resolutions
– An Auditor’s Claim of Privilege: The Latest
– An Effete Corps of Governance Snobs

– Broc Romanek