Representatives of the Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) met on February 7 and 8, 2011, in Norwalk, Connecticut. The meeting was the tenth in a series of discussions the ASBJ and FASB have had to enhance the dialogue on the global convergence of accounting standards.
The two Boards updated each other on recent developments in their respective convergence work with the IASB and discussed the following projects:- Financial instruments, based on the credit impairment model for financial assets recently deliberated by the FASB and the IASB and the Exposure Draft on Hedge Accounting issued by the IASB in December 2010
- Revenue Recognition, based on the FASB and the IASB’s recent redeliberations with respect to the Exposure Draft on Revenue Recognition
- Leases, based on the FASB and the IASB’s recent redeliberations with respect to the Exposure Draft on Leases
The IASB and the ASBJ have been working together to achieve convergence of IFRSs and Japanese GAAP since 2005. This work was formalized in 2007 with the Tokyo Agreement, and the two boards continue to strive to narrow differences by June 2011. Moreover, the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) now permits certain qualifying domestic companies to apply IFRSs for fiscal years ending on or after March 31, 2010. As per the roadmap released by the FSA, mandatory adoption of IFRS may start in 2015 or 2016, subject to the final decision which is to be made around 2012.
More information about the FASB/ASBJ meeting is available from the press release. |
