EU, U.S. Agree on Plan to Eliminate Rule Requiring European Cos. to Follow GAAP

Officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Union Commission have reached an agreement on a "roadmap" toward equivalence between international and U.S. accounting rules.

The roadmap sets out steps the SEC will take to eliminate the need for European companies using International Financial Reporting Standards to reconcile to U.S. GAAP standards possibly as soon as 2007, but no later than 2009, EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said Friday. Currently, European companies doing business in the U.S. have to conform to GAAP rules, which means keeping two sets of books.

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