IFRS in the United States: A Rejoinder to the Debate Between the SEC and the IFRS Foundation

Abstract

This paper examines the July 13, 2012 Final Staff Report of the Office of the Chief Accountant of the SEC with regard to IFRS adoption in the United States, and the response of the staff of the IFRS Foundation. Using analytical methods developed in qualitative research and student opinion as proxy for informed respondents, the paper finds that IFRS is unlikely to be adopted in the United States through a big bag process, and the adoption debate does not appear to be founded on principles of recognition, measurement and disclosure. In other words, consistent with Latour’s (1999) observations about science research and science policy, and Watts and Zimmerman (1979) and Holthausen and Watts (2001) observations about standard setting, the IFRS adoption debate in the United States is not always founded on the findings of the academic research.