Kroeker named SEC Chief Accountant

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Kroeker named SEC Chief Accountant Resources Global Professionals Finance & Accounting Blog Wednesday, August 26. 2009 Kroeker named SEC Chief Accountant Yesterday, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro named Jim Kroeker as Chief Accountant of the SEC. Jim had been serving as the acting Chief Accountant since Con Hewitt's departure at the end of 2008. I believe Jim is a good choice, but a surprising one. He is the first internal promotion at the SEC. Schapiro had been largely going outside of the Commission for appointments. So what could this mean for the US and the proposed IFRS roadmap? Kroeker has largely been silent on the issue. Unlike some of the other candidates for the job, who have been largely opposed to moving to adopting IFRS.

The next G20 meeting is in September in Pittsburgh. I had wondered what President Obama would say at this meeting - given that at the April 2 meeting, all countries committed to "move to one set of global accounting standards", yet the US was the only country that has not yet done so. The comments on the SEC's proposed roadmap were due in April - but we haven't heard anything from the SEC since. Schapiro has largely focused on enforcement and frankly, in ensuring that her agency survives given the noise around regulatory reform. I think she had left the job open by design, so that she could put off the IFRS discussion. At the September G20, President Obama can say that we got the comments in, we recently named the Chief Accountant and are moving ahead with our analysis. My sense is that Kroeker will start to schedule roundtables, discussions, etc. over the next few months. So look for momentum to kick up a bit over the next few months. I also fully expect more debate to occur regarding the pros and cons of continuing to converge with IFRS vs. adoption of IFRS.

It should be noted though, that the rest of the world is growing more and more impatient with the US. Support for continuing convergence is waning. The rest of the world is wondering why the IASB needs to continue to work so closely with the FASB, while the US has made no commitment to IFRS. The longer we wait to commit to adoption, the less leverage and influence we will have. Posted by Colleen Cunningham at 10:05 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)