How are you handling the transition to IFRS standards?

The SEC estimates the transition from US GAAP to IFRS will cost each early adopter $32 million over the first three years. Although the convergence for large accelerated manufacturers doesn’t occur until 2014, you can start reducing your $32 million spend by planning for a smooth, timely transition today.

• Have you planned for the cost associated with transitioning to IFRS?
• Do you understand the impact it will have on your accounting team?
• Will you get approval to bring in an accounting firm to help with the transition and when you do will it be too late?

The SEC continues to send mixed messages about the IFRS roadmap - This October, The Pharma Financial Forum will prepare you for these changes by providing a blueprint for making a seamless transition to IFRS standards. Participate in a featured session entitled “Determine

How Quickly to Move Toward the Adoption of IFRS”, which offers insights on:
• Ascertaining a more accurate sense of when IFRS implementation will trickle down to smaller companies
• Pinpointing which processes within the conversion to focus on over the next two years
• Selecting strategies for keeping up with standards without overinvesting in the transition to IFRS

Be sure to visit our website for more information and complete program details.

**If you register by this Friday, August 7, you'll receive $300 off the standard registration price! Find out more here.

Tweedie encourages US to join IFRS

At WebCPA, they divulge that Sir David Tweedie has encouraged the United States to come up with an adoption plan for IFRS. Although Tweeide has and FASB Chairman Bob Hertz have worked closely together to weave US GAAP into IFRS, the new leader of the SEC, Mary Schapiro has not said whether or not she has approved of the latest model of the roadmap to adoption.

During the American Accounting Association's annual accounting meeting, Tweedie stated: "This is a very interesting moment for us, a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Where is the USA? That is a question I am asked all around the world. The convergence program is designed to reduce the cost of transition. FASB is riding two horses: U.S. GAAP and trying to converge at the same time, but so are we. We get a lot of criticism over the favored-nation status toward the United States. The European Federation of Accountancy Bodies has just talked about how the point has been reached where there have been diminishing returns from convergence with U.S. GAAP, particularly as more and more countries, including major economies such as Japan and India, move toward direct adoption of full IFRS, and the IASB should change its strategy and concentrate exclusively on major improvements and simplifications of IFRS for the short term. We think that’s wrong. If you’re going to have global standards, we need the U.S., but it can’t go on indefinitely. We’ve been converging for seven years. We have a timetable to finish in 2011. It’s designed to fit these major economies — Korea, Canada, Japan, India — who are converging that year. We have to finish this year.”

Read the full write up here.

IFRS versus US GAAP

At the Accounting Principles blog, Malcolm McKay recently looked at the differences between US GAAP versus the IFRS systems of accounting. He pointed out that according to Audit Integrity, there are no noticable differences between the two systems. He also states that US GAAP has tools that allow for better reporting. What do you think? Is it important to join the rest of the world and keep books in the same accounting method or look towards US GAAP, which according to reports, allows for better analysis?

An Objective Look at International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the report by Audit Integrity, can be read here.