AICPA Survey Shows U.S. CPAs Delayed Moves Toward International Accounting Standards After SEC Set Aside Progress on 'Roadmap'

AICPA Survey Shows U.S. CPAs Delayed Moves Toward International Accounting
Standards After SEC Set Aside Progress on 'Roadmap'

CPAs Support Adoption of IFRS, But Tend to Prefer Convergence First; SEC to
Revisit Plans

NEW YORK, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. accounting profession
delayed taking steps to prepare for adoption of international accounting
standards over the last six months after the Securities and Exchange
Commission set aside its review of U.S. plans for adoption during the credit
crisis, according to a recent survey conducted by the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants.

A 65 percent majority of CPAs said in the latest AICPA survey on International
Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) they want the SEC to address its plans
for IFRS adoption by the end of the year.

"Our semi-annual survey shows most CPAs believe the U.S. should move toward
IFRS and they are looking to the SEC for leadership and direction," said
Arleen Thomas, AICPA senior vice president for member competency and
development.

Familiarity with IFRS among U.S. CPAs did not advance during the past six
months according to the survey. Nevertheless, 50.6 percent said they expect
they will need relevant IFRS knowledge within the next one to three years.
Eight percent say they need more knowledge now.

A 53.6 percent majority supports IFRS use by U.S. public companies; of those
14.1, percent support an SEC mandate of IFRS, and 39.5 percent support
mandated use of IFRS but only after U.S. and international standards are
further converged. Eighteen percent said the SEC should not mandate use of
IFRS but rather allow IFRS as an option for U.S. companies.

SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro said recently the SEC would again take up its
review of a proposed "roadmap" for IFRS adoption by 2014 after delaying for
nine months as the agency focused on managing the financial crisis on Wall
Street. Sixty-two percent of CPAs working at public companies said in the
survey they were delaying IFRS preparations until the SEC sets a date certain
for adoption in the U.S.; 28 percent said they were not delaying.

A majority of respondents, 66.5 percent, said they believe a self-contained
set of accounting standards should be available for private companies, but a
54 percent majority said they were "unsure" about adopting the International
Accounting Standards Board's recently issued IFRS for Small and Medium-sized
Entities (SMEs.) Among CPAs in public practice, 43.7 percent said they were
"unsure" about recommending clients adopt IFRS SMEs.

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are set by the
International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in London, the international
equivalent of the U.S.'s Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in
Norwalk, Conn. More information on IFRS is available on the AICPA's Web site
http://www.IFRS.com.

Methodology
The AICPA IFRS Readiness Tracking Survey was conducted via an online
questionnaire from Sept. 3 to Sept. 28 and included 1,132 CPAs in public
accounting firms and in business and industry. The survey's margin of error
was plus-or-minus 3 percentage points. Tabulated survey results are available
on the AICPA Online Media Center at
http://www.aicpa.org/download/news/2009/IFRS_Survey_Results.pdf

About the AICPA
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (www.aicpa.org) is the
national, professional association of CPAs, with more than 360,000 members,
including CPAs in business and industry, public practice, government, and
education; student affiliates; and international associates. It sets ethical
standards for the profession and U.S. auditing standards for audits of private
companies; federal, state and local governments; and non-profit organizations.
It develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination.

The AICPA maintains offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Durham, N.C.,
Ewing, N.J., and Lewisville, Texas.

Media representatives are invited to visit the AICPA Online Media Center at
www.aicpa.org/mediacenter.

SOURCE American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

William Roberts of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants,
+1-202-434-9266, wroberts@aicpa.org