At top of his reasons to be cheerful were IOSCO's endorsement of International Accounting Standards, the US Securities and Exchange Commission's concept release and the European Commission requirement for European companies to use IASs for cross-border listing by 2005.

The EC requirement has been a major fillip for the move towards global accounting standards, but some speakers, including UK Deloitte & Touche partner Andrew Simmonds and secretary general of the German Standards Board Liesel Knorr, expressed concern about the endorsement mechanism, which will screen IASs at two levels: technical and political. They fear that the mechanism could compromise the move towards true harmonisation.

The mechanism has been put in place because of the EC's concerns over delegating the development of accounting standards to a private sector body. Karel van Hulle, the EC's head of company law and financial reporting, said that IASs offered the best route to global standards, which are required to facilitate the move to a single market in financial services under the EC's financial services action plan. "You have to be pragmatic in life,' he said. "IAS is a way to make progress in accounting standards. It's not perfect but it's the best option."

He considers that the next few years will see the new IASC on trial. "Europe is moving to IAS, but is the new IASC capable of meeting the challenge? That remains to be seen.' Should the IASC fail the test, then the EC could step in as the European standard-setter."

Goran Tidström, deputy president of the Fédération des Experts Comptables Européens, said that while van Hulle made the process seem simple, there was a long way to go. He also said that high quality accounting standards were not enough on their own: good quality auditing standards and enforcement were also needed. "As auditors, we are relying on a high quality total package.'

He was pleased with the structure of the endorsement mechanism, saying that a combination of private/public sector was the best way forward for Europe. And like van Hulle, he added that the IASC will have to demonstrate its capability to develop IASs under its new structure. "What happens in Europe will be crucial to the IASs' success story." Slow, partial implementation in Europe will have a knock-on effect for the IASC in the rest of the world.

Paul Arlman, secretary general of the Federation of European Stock Exchanges, was concerned that change wasn't happening fast enough. Changes in the financial markets were happening at a rapid rate and the whole process of developing and implementing accounting standards was in danger of not being able to keep up. He also stressed the need for enforcement, which he sees as a key issue. There needed to be greater cooperation and coordination between the national regulators.

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