ICAI welcomes McCreevy 'equivalence' plan

The ICAI has welcomed the announcement from EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy that he has reached an agreement on a roadmap towards "equivalence" between European and US accounting principles.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) has welcomed the announcement from Irish EU Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, that he has reached an agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on a roadmap towards "equivalence" between European and US accounting principles.

The Commissioner has indicated that he has reached agreement on a roadmap that would see compatibility between the standards achieved between 2007 and 2009.

Commenting, ICAI President, Terence O’Rourke said: “When completed this will be a significant development for the small number of Irish firms that are currently obliged to engage in the expensive process of preparing their accounts in accordance with both IFRS (Irish standard) and US GAAP (US standard)."