The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering a leap of faith that spells danger for US investors. It asks whether US companies should be allowed to report using new inter­national accounting standards, instead of traditional US ones, and proposes letting non-US companies report using the new standards, without showing how results would look under US rules.

The SEC seeks comparability through uniform reporting globally. It emphasises comparability between US companies and their non-US competitors, recognising that some US companies would follow international rules and others US rules. The SEC suggests that less domestic comparability is a reasonable price to pay for more global comparability.