The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are working frenetically as they try to finalise as many projects as possible by the middle or end of 2011. It is almost as tiring for the rest of the accounting world, who are asked to submit comments to the boards at an unprecedented rate. The short-term deadline arises from a mixture of responding to the financial crisis, the Security and Exchange Commission’s timetable for considering International Financial Reporting Standards for the US markets and some forthcoming board changes at the IASB.