On Thursday, July 7, the SEC will host a roundtable on IFRS in the United States. A week earlier, the Commission announced the roundtable's agenda and participants.

Panel one will discuss investors' current understanding and knowledge of IFRS, as well as the education needed to understand the changes in accounting standards. Among the participants are executives from Standard & Poor's, Morgan Stanley, Moody's Investors Service, and the California Public Employees' Retirement System.

The second panel will look at IFRS and the impact on smaller public companies. Among the topics of discussion are the costs and benefits of potential IFRS incorporation, as well as the FASB's convergence agenda, as well as participation in the standard-setting process. Participants include execs from Bank of the West, Tandy Leather Factory, Cuisine Solutions, and several accounting firms.

Participants on Panel Three will explore the regulatory environment, including the current use of U.S. GAAP financial information in regulatory activities and the steps and timing required to change regulation due to changes in accounting standards. Discussing this will be executives from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The roundtable will begin at 10:00 A.M., and will be available via Webcast on the SEC Website. The Webcast will be archived. The SEC is accepting comments for consideration at the roundtable; more information on submitting comments is available here.