International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)

Definition:

A set of international financial reporting standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), and the international equivalent of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

In 2007, the SEC eliminated the long-standing requirement that Foreign Private Issuers reconcile financial statements in their SEC filings to GAAP, as long as those financial statements were prepared using IFRS, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). This change was intended to facilitate access to the US capital markets by non-US companies and to improve the consistency and readability of financial reporting for US investors who own foreign securities.

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