Beswick's “condorsement” idea would infuse IFRS into U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles by endorsing international standards one at a time while also continuing to converge them to GAAP. The Financial Accounting Standards Board would follow some established endorsement protocol for folding newly issued or amended international standards into GAAP, while also having the authority to modify or supplement them as the boards deems necessary. That would lead to a more gradual transition to IFRS with differences between IFRS and GAAP eliminated over time through further U.S. standard setting.

“Condorsement” - An Alternative Framework for IFRS in the United States
by Tim Foley

When the SEC discusses International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) and the future of U.S. GAAP, it rarely talks about adoption of IFRS or conversion to IFRS. Instead, the SEC refers to the possibility of incorporation of IFRS into the financial reporting system utilized in the U.S. The former suggests a wholesale change, a full commitment. The latter suggests assimilation. However, with its release of a May 26, 2011 Staff Paper, the SEC is now providing more direct insight into some more innovative thinking regarding the future of IFRS in the U.S. 

This staff paper, entitled Exploring a Possible Method of Incorporation, outlines one of several possible approaches to the use of IFRS in the U.S. Additional staff papers are expected in the coming weeks. This first paper explores an approach that has become known as “condorsement.”

During the 2010 AICPA National Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments, SEC Deputy Chief Accountant Paul Beswick introduced the term “condorsement” while discussing the possible use of IFRS in the U.S. In an April 4 interview with the Journal of Accountancy, Leslie Seidman, Chairman of the FASB, described her interpretation of condorsement