IASB and FASB at Impasse over Mark-to-Market Accounting

Mark-to-market accounting is proving to be a major sticking point in efforts to converge the world’s two most important accounting systems, Generally Acceptable Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IASB). In September, the “Group of 20” leading industrialized nations pledged to create a single global set of accounting rules by June 2011.

In a joint statement, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) said that they had failed to reach an agreement on the valuation of financial instruments. They commented that there was “no guarantee” they would be able to resolve their differences and that it “could affect the project timetables.”

The FASB supports a more widespread use of mark to market accounting than the IASB.