Japan commits to IFRS by 2011

Representatives of the
Financial
Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the
Accounting Standards
Board of Japan (ASBJ) have concluded the fourth meeting in a series of
dialogues to develop a common set of high-quality accounting standards for both
domestic and international use.

ASBJ is committed to eliminate major differences between Japanese generally
accepted accounting principles and the International Financial Reporting
Standards (IFRS) by 2008.

The remaining differences will be removed on or before 30 June 2011, based on
the ‘Agreement on Initiatives to Accelerate the Convergence of Accounting
Standards’ which was announced by the ASBJ and International Accounting
Standards Board on 8 August 2007.

In addition, representatives of both boards exchanged views on the status of
work on the following projects:

• conceptual framework
• revenue recognition
• liabilities and equity
• scope of consolidation, including SPEs