IFRS and the FASB: a marriage not made in heaven

A great deal of disinformation has been proffered concerning the prospects for the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The elephant in the room is the USA. The USA is the last but most important hold–out. Without a US adoption of IFRS, IFRS will be relegated to a second–rate set of standards, used by countries that cannot afford (or meet) the 'gold standard' set by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). We will show that in the USA, IFRS is dead–in–the–water. Yet many commentators, officials and observers are in denial. Their motivations range from simple ignorance to downright malfeasance.