The Securities and Exchange Commission has affirmed its supportfor a single set of global accounting standards and says its staffwill put together a work plan examining the issues involved inadopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in theU.S.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the SEC also said it willdecide next year whether to adopt IFRS for U.S. financialreporting. That 2011 date is the timeframe originally set for thatdecision in the roadmap the agency issued in 2008 under formerchairman Christopher Cox.

Over the last year, as Mary Schapiro succeeded Cox as theagency's chairman, there have been some doubts about the SEC'scommitment to IFRS, says D.J. Gannon, leader of Deloitte's IFRSCenter of Excellence. “This action actually puts this commission onrecord as supporting the notion of a single global standard.”