Following the recent global financial crisis, the issue of finding a better accounting consolidation model has become so important that both the IASB and the FASB have decided to address the problem by improving the accounting standard for the consolidated financial statement. Starting from theoretical assumptions on consolidation, this study analyses the different approaches that the two standard setters follow, focusing also on the problematic question of SPEs, and current trends in the accounting convergence process in order to assess the real progress of accounting harmonisation in this area and to highlight the importance of this topic as a field of research in worldwide accounting regulation.