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IFRS Are You Ready?
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are standards and interpretations adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Many of the standards forming part of IFRS are known by the older name of International Accounting Standards (IAS). IAS were issued between 1973 and 2001 by the board of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). In April 2001 the IASB adopted all IAS and continued their development, calling the new standards IFRS.

What is IFRS?
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are a set of accounting standards developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), that are becoming the global standard for the preparation of public company financial statements. The IASB is an independent accounting standards body, based in London, that is unaffiliated with the AICPA, CPA2Biz or this website.

What is the IASB?
The IASB is an independent accounting standard-setting body, based in London. It consists of 14 members from nine countries, including the United States. The IASB began operations in 2001, when it succeeded the International Accounting Standards Committee. It is funded by contributions from major accounting firms, private financial institutions and industrial companies, central and development banks, and other international and professional organizations throughout the world. The AICPA was a founding member of the International Accounting Standards Committee, but the IASB neither sponsors nor endorses this website. How widespread is the adoption of IFRS around the world? More than 12,000 companies in almost 100 nations have adopted IFRS, including listed companies in the European Union. Other countries, including Canada and India, are expected to transition to IFRS by 2011. Some estimate that the number of countries requiring or accepting IFRS could grow to 150 in the next few years. 1 Other countries, such as Japan and Mexico, have plans to converge (eliminate significant differences) their national standards.

What is the possibility of the Securities and Exchange Commission substituting IFRS for GAAP?
Many people believe that acceptance of IFRS in the United States by the SEC for public companies is inevitable. For many years the SEC has been expressing its support for a core set of accounting standards that could serve as a framework for financial reporting in cross-border offerings. In recent years, it has supported efforts of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the IASB to develop a common set of high-quality, global standards.  Most recently, it issued a Concept Release seeking input on allowing U.S. public companies to use IFRS when preparing financial statements. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox also announced that later this year the SEC staff will formally propose to the Commission an updated “roadmap” that will lay out a schedule and appropriate milestones for continuing U.S. progress toward acceptance of the IFRS. The bottom line is that CPAs need to begin to prepare for the day in the not-so-distant future when the SEC could designate a date for voluntary, or even mandatory, adoption of the IFRS by all U.S. public companies.