The European Union announced on Friday it reached a tentative agreement with the United States to streamline trans-Atlantic accounting standards for companies by 2009. Under the agreement, companies from the 25 EU nations will be able to use their own International Financial Reporting Standards and no longer have to adapt to special U.S. standards by 2009. "Today's announcement is a sign of our common interest in reducing regulatory burden and related costs on business," said EU Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy. The agreement will eliminate the need for European companies to apply two sets of accounting standards to be in line with the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission. Adapting to the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles were considered a costly burden. "What we have announced today shows that we can achieve real progress through such constructive dialogue," said McCreevy in a statement from Washington, where he met with U.S. government officials. --mor 1315 Local Time 1015 GMT
