On Friday, November 14, 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released its potential “roadmap” to require U.S. issuers to prepare financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) rather than U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principals (“GAAP”). The overarching goal of the SEC’s proposal is to eventually allow investors to seamlessly compare the financial statements of U.S. companies with those of non-U.S. companies through the application of a single set of high-quality global accounting standards. Pursuant to the proposal, the SEC would adopt rules by 2011 governing the use of IFRS by U.S. issuers. The conclusive decision to adopt IFRS will be based on following the roadmap, which is broken down into seven “milestones” which serve as factors that the SEC considers vital to achieving its stated goal.

Please see full newsletter for more information.