Mary Shapiro duly attended a recent meeting of the IASC Foundation Monitoring Board, a group formed by International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, reports CFO.com. Sarbanes-Oxley requires that the SEC has certain elements of oversight over accounting rule makers. So this may be seen as an effort to pave the way for the United States' adoption of IFRS. At the meeting, new SEC chairman Schapiro emphasized the importance of independent standard setting--an issue for which she has criticized IASB in the past.

Of course, the recent move to issue new guidance on FAS 157 may open the United States to charges that it's accounting system is similarly susceptible to political pressure. All in all, it's unclear exactly how Shapiro will act when it comes to the IFRS timetable. If she were to delay implementation, few would be surprised, because she has expressed reservations previously. Some companies would breathe a sigh of relief.

For more:
- here's the CFO.com article

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