Article identity The title of the article under review in this research paper is, “statement by SEC staff: A securities regulator looks at convergence”. This article has been authored by Donald Nicolaisen, who is a chief accountant with U.S. SEC (United States Securities and Exchange Commission). The article has been published by the International Business and Law Journal at Northwestern in April 2005. This is a 23-page article that was released to the public on February 24, 2006. The article is an expression of the views and opinion of the author, and these are in no way a reflection of the U.S. SEC (United States Securities Exchange Commission). The article is also available online. Relationship of the article to the course The article under investigation bears a correlation with certain sections of the course in advanced accounting theory. For example, this article dwells on the issue of the establishment of accounting standards that are set and accepted at the global level, with a view to benefiting the capital markets. Further, the article dwells on IFRS (international financial reporting standards), as they affect both the creditors and the investors at the capital market, by way of providing them with consistency as well as quality when they are making their financial reporting. In addition, this article also explores the U.S. GAAP (the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) as a tool that shall allow the capital markets in the United States to take advantage of accounting that has been accepted globally, in a single set. As can be seen, there is relevancy between the content of this article, and the issues that chapter 3 and 4 of the syllabus on advanced accounting theory dwell on. For example, these chapters have sought to lay emphasis on accounting issues international business accounting systems development, the applications of international accounting standards, and the conceptual framework of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). Also, the article has explored the importance of employing accounting standards of high quality, at a time when financial statements of companies are being prepared. This is a call to the accountant to display professionalism while executing their duties. As such, the accountants are ethically bound by their accounting responsibilities at a time when they are reporting financial statements, in line with the last section (week ten) of the advanced accounting theory course on the disclosure requirements for financial reporting, as well as ethical responsibilities. Summary The author of this article offers an explanation as to why he believes that the embracing by the global capital markets of accounting standards that are globally accepted could benefit not just the capital market, but also the various stakeholders involved, and more so the investors. As such, the article cites the need to prepare the financial statements of a company via the use of high-quality accounting standards, to enable the investors to such accompany come to terms with the prospects of the company that they have a stake in (IOSCO, 2005). This is important, not just to enhance the prospects of the company to amass more capital, but also as a way of avoiding the di