Press Release: Financial reporting: Commission welcomes IASB/FASB convergence agreement

The European Commission welcomed a joint announcement by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on 29 October 2002 of their commitment to achieving real convergence between their respective accounting standards by 2005, when listed EU companies will required to apply IAS. The announcement is a major step towards a global system of accounting standards and will in particular help the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to accept financial statements prepared by EU companies in accordance with IAS, without reconciliation to US GAAP, for the purposes of listing on US markets.