Bloomberg BNA has a good interview with Robert Laux, the senior director of financial accounting at Microsoft Corporation. He spoke about how the integration of accounting standards will affect international companies domestically and abroad.

He believes that the biggest short term impact will be what standards the SEC recognizes. The standards boards have not finished their work and even some items that have been agreed upon allow for revenue recognition to be grandfathered.

While the integration of financial standards seems a dry topic to many business owners the impact is greater than they recognize. A dual set of standards make it more difficult to raise capital on public markets in other countries. With increased business integration more and more businesses have foreign components.

But the integration brings with it a new set of problems. Will it materially impact the financial statements of multi-nationals? It is the correct direction but bumps are going to be a part of the process.