Survey: CFOs Split on GAAP/IFRS Proposal

Chief financial officers are divided on their views of the Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed change to allow foreign issuers to choose between reporting in International Financial Reporting Standards or U.S. GAAP. Some 55 percent of CFOs polled in the quarterly "CFO Outlook Survey," conducted jointly by Financial Executives International and Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business, supported the change, while 50 percent supported a proposal to allow U.S. filers to choose between IFRS or GAAP. "The globalization of the capital markets demands that we create a dialogue about the virtues of GAAP and IFRS," said Michael P. Cangemi, FEI president and chief executive. "At this point, U.S. financial executives need to become more familiar with IFRS. It will at some future point have an impact on how financial statements are prepared." Meanwhile, CFOs are forecasting just single-digit increases in capital spending, hiring, and the prices of their products over the next 12 months, according to the poll. The weighted expected increases for the next year averaged 2.3 percent for capital spending, 4.1 percent for hiring, and 1.9 percent for product prices. By contrast, the CFO Survey for the first quarter projected averages of 7.9 percent, 5.2 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively. The only area that saw an increase from the last quarter was technology spending, which rose from 9.6 percent to 11.3 percent.