"Awareness is growing among U.S. accountants that IFRS is coming for public companies and most believe it will take three to five years to get ready," Melancon said at a Financial Accounting Standards Board conference on International Financial Reporting Standards held at Baruch College in New York City on June 16.

Melancon’s comments came in remarks at a FASB forum on "High-Quality Global Accounting Standards: Issues and Implications for U.S. Financial Reporting" that was attended by 24 representatives from the U.S. and international accounting and finance professions as well as state and federal regulatory authorities including the Securities and Exchange Commission  and Internal Revenue Service. The purpose of the FASB forum was to open a dialogue about whether and how to move the U.S. financial reporting system to IFRS and broadly define next steps in that process.

"The overwhelming feedback we get from people who focus on this issue is, 'Let's get it done,'" Melancon said.  "Let's get a date certain for public companies. Let's put that date out there so the momentum can build, all of the proper steps can be put in place, and work groups that need to be in a whole variety of different areas can follow."

A majority of AICPA members polled in an April 24 to May 12 survey said they believed it would take three to five years to prepare for IFRS.  Thirty-four percent said they would need three years and 31.4 percent said they would need four or five years.  The online survey of 1,240 members had a margin of error of less than 3 percentage points.

The Securities and Exchange Commission last year allowed foreign public companies to issue financial statements in the U.S. using IFRS, instead of U.S. GAAP.  The SEC is now weighing whether to issue a proposed rule that would allow U.S. firms to use IFRS.

IFRS are set by the International Accounting Standards Board in London, the international equivalent of the FASB in Norwalk, Conn. The AICPA’s governing Council voted May 18 to designate the IASB for the first time as an accounting body for purposes of applying IFRS in the U.S.