madam president accounting standards are the key element of the language of financial services
for investors the moves to converge the national standards of accounting to the international financial reporting standards ifrs are a great step forward
it means that companies will be able to publish accounts in one basic form which should be accepted in the major economies around the world
canada china japan the usa and now it seems india as well are in agreement in the wish to converge their standards towards ifrs
although i welcome this as the rapporteur for the transparency directive i recognise that work to achieve actual convergence still has to be done
this is why i and my fellow rapporteur margarita <unk> have approved the amendments to monitor the progress of this convergence process
i trust that the commission in their discussions with various national authorities can keep the momentum moving
with regard to the usa i am keen that a new administration can be trusted and relied upon to make the substantial progress that it is needed
the commission should keep pressure on this
on accounting standards themselves it is vitally important to keep the underlying approach as agreed within the international accounting standards board iasb
the integrity of these rules will be tested by attempts to dilute them for national reasons
this should be resisted strongly and fair value accounting must be supported in the face of such pressure
