Are CFO’s confused over IFRS?

AccountingWeb US has reproduced part of the Grant Thornton study on attitudes to IFRS. The commentary says:

“It appears that finance professionals have begun choosing whether they want to be in the pro-IFRS or anti-IFRS camp,” noted Gary Illiano, Grant Thornton’s national partner in charge of International and Domestic Accounting, “and it’s pretty evenly divided. Funny, but it wasn’t that long ago that we were all saying, ‘IFRS – what’s that?’”

I’m not so sure. With 85% having no experience of IFRS reporting and 70% being unfamiliar with the proposals as they might impact privately held companies it’s hard to see how anyone can reasonably form a view of what IFRS entails or its implications. Yet, the headline: CFOs divided over need for IFRS appears to tell a different story.

Despite the lack of familiarity it seems respondents were almost equally divided on the question: Should all U.S. companies be permitted to use IFRS, instead of U.S. GAAP, in financial statements filed with the SEC?

There’s a lot of talk about IFRS implementation in the US but the survey results suggest there is a significant amount of eduction to be delivered. If professionals are unclear about the requirements or its impact, it’s almost impossible for them to form an opinion as to the appropriateness of its application.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Northern Dynasty Early Adopts International Financial Reporting Standards (newswire.ca)
• One in Four of Canada’s Leading Private Companies Plans to Adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (newswire.ca)
• Anooraq Early Adopts International Financial Reporting Standards (newswire.ca)

Tagged as: IFRS, US GAAP