US to adopt IFRS 'in a few years' - Gerrit Zalm

The new head of the international standard setting body has said the US will move to full IFRS within a few years.

Newly appointed chairman of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, Gerrit Zalm said this was inevitable.

Speaking to Reuters, the former Dutch deputy Prime Minister said the first step would be for the US to scrap the requirement for foreign listings using IFRS to file separate accounts based on US GAAP, and the second step would be for the US to allow domestic firms to use IFRS.

Zalm's backing of such a move – already proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission – conflicts with the views of Robert Herz, chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, who said this would threaten the goal of ultimate convergence of standards.

He also repeated his intention to crack down on localised 'carve-outs' of IFRS.

'If we still have the objective of having one international standard then the carve-out must be reversed,' he said.

Further reading:

U.S. seen adopting global accounting rules

IASB chair sparks fresh tensions with European regulators

IASB chief vows to produce one global standard