The future of IFRS: European or global accounting standards?

This event was a discussion of global accounting standards-setting following the publication in July of Bruegel’s Policy Brief Keeping the promise of global accounting standards, by Senior Fellow Nicolas Véron. The session included comments by Jeroen Hooijer, the leading official on accounting matters at the European Commission and Alain Teixeira, Senior Director of Technical Activities at the IASB.

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been successfully adopted by the EU in 2005 and later by other jurisdictions, but their ability to become truly global standards remains in question. The United States is expected to announce its policy on IFRS adoption within a few months, and changes in the governance of the IFRS Foundation, which hosts the standard-setting International Accounting Standards Board, are simultaneously being debated. As the financial crisis underlines the crucial importance of accounting in today’s complex financial systems, the future of IFRS is a as topical and important an issue as ever.

The presentations by Nicolas Véron, Alain Teixeira and Jeroen Hooijer were followed by an open discussion.

Event materials

Summary here