With the increased globalization of markets comes the desire to have common accounting standards. In pursuit of that goal, the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards has been a major change in terms of both methodology and complexity. International Accounting Standard 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement has been particularly political and has led to intense lobbying activity by various affected groups. But one group that has been relatively silent is the users of financial statements. It is imperative that this group become more involved early in the standard-setting process if the standards are to serve all constituents.