Eighty-nine percent of financial executives view mandatory conversion to International Financial Reporting Standards to be either highly likely or somewhat likely in the U.S., according to a new survey by Deloitte.

D.J. Gannon

The survey of more than 245 financial executives in July found that 59 percent view mandatory conversion as highly likely. In addition, 80 percent of the respondents are either currently taking action, or planning to take action, on IFRS conversion.

Forty percent of the executives are either performing or have performed a high-level IFRS assessment, while another 40 percent said they plan to perform an assessment in the future. In addition, 67 percent of those surveyed have designated a person or team to focus on IFRS, or monitor IFRS developments.

Only 20 percent of the respondents indicated they have no plans for IFRS assessment activities.

“Convergence of accounting standards was underway well before the financial crisis hit,” said Deloitte & Touche partner D.J. Gannon. “However, the current focus on restructuring the financial industry puts increased pressure and immediacy on driving IFRS convergence.”