Commission's impending decision regarding whether, how, and when to incorporate International Financial Reporting Standards into the U.S. financial reporting system.

On November 17, the SEC staff issued two significant reports, one comparing U.S. generally accepted accounting principles to IFRS, and one describing the SEC staff's observations as to the current application of IFRS by large global filers. Read more in the FEI blog.

Separately, the Financial Accounting Foundation, which oversees the Financial Accounting Standards Board, filed a comment letter on the SEC staff's May 2011 paper which suggested a method of incorporating IFRS into U.S. GAAP, combining elements of convergence and endorsement (i.e. endorsement of IFRS on an ongoing basis by FASB as the U.S. national standard setter, similar to the process used by various countries that have adopted IFRS), an approach first coined as 'Condorsement" by SEC Deputy Chief Accountant Paul Beswick in a December, 2010 speech.

 Read more here about the FAF's suggestions regarding refinements to 'condorsement,' and the FAF's views as to the future role of FASB once the convergence projects outlined in the FASB-IASB's Memorandum of Understanding are completed.