E&Y's Turley: SEC Should Adopt IFRS

The chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young, writing on the op-ed page of today’s Wall Street Journal, argues that the Securities and Exchange Commission “throw its weight” behind adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in lieu of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). 

“Much of the world is still speaking different languages when it comes to financial reporting,” writes James S. Turley. “It's confusing, inefficient and outmoded. Just think of the chaos that would ensue at next year's Olympics in Beijing if teams from different countries played by different rules. That's the situation much of the business and investment world is living with today. Disparities in financial reporting caused by differing accounting standards may have been tolerable when cross-border investment was a fraction of what it is today. In today's global market, these disparities exact a high price.”