The top US markets regulator has threatened to ban overseas companies from using accounting rules from the International Financial Reporting Standards if its rulemakers continue to pursue sustainability and climate issues.
Securities and Exchange Commission chair Paul Atkins told the Financial Times that the IFRS Foundation was “chasing political fads” with sustainability issues, calling it “a real issue, a real problem”.
“Those sorts of [sustainability] principles coming into IFRS could undermine the integrity of IFRS and particularly its compatibility with [US accounting standards],” Atkins said, which “creates a question” of whether the SEC should prohibit its use in the US.