Accountingweb reports EU's dispute with International Accounting Standards Board despite its goal o fmaking it easier for European companies to list stocks in the U.S.

"The dispute has made it on to the radar of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which says it won’t take financial filings from European companies unless the EU requires them to follow the IASB’s derivative rules, which closely mirror U.S. rules, Dow Jones reported.

John Hitchins, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, told Dow Jones that the current situation is "pretty serious." "If the European Union doesn't adopt international accounting standards with IAS 32 and IAS 39 [the standards that deal with derivatives], it will leave a big hole in the IAS framework. The EU itself would have to consider drafting alternative rules," he says. But, he adds, these may not be acceptable across Europe because of national differences. For instance, Germany has adopted IASB standards, but the French oppose the new derivative rules."