In a public statement on global accounting released on 5 January 2017, Mary Jo White, Chair of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stressed that the strength of the U.S. capital markets depended on investors knowing that they could rely on the financial information that is available to them when they make investment decisions. And since U.S. investors also made many investment decisions using IFRS financial statements, ensuring that IFRS, as well as U.S. GAAP, were of the highest quality was one of the Commission’s “highest priorities”.