SEC Issues Concept Release on International Financial Reporting

Washington, DC, March 9, 2000 - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a concept release regarding the development of a high quality, global financial reporting framework for international capital markets. Comments on the SEC's concept release are due by May 23, 2000.

The concept release focuses on the elements necessary to create uniform accounting standards for use in cross-border securities offerings. The release will serve as the basis for any future SEC rulemaking deemed necessary to reduce or remove the current requirement for foreign registrants to reconcile their financial statements to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) before offering securities in the U.S., or listing securities on a U.S. exchange. Accordingly, the concept release seeks comment on whether and under what conditions the SEC should accept financial statements of foreign private issuers that are prepared using the standards promulgated by the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC).

The concept release also seeks commenters' views regarding their experiences with IASC standards, including issuers that apply IASC standards when preparing financial statements; public accountants that audit the application of IASC standards; and investors that use financial statements prepared under IASC standards.