International Financial Reporting System

Educate yourself on International Financial Reporting Standards

            The Securities and Exchange Commission has declared that all U.S. companies must convert the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from 2014. While some companies choose to implement IFRS by 2009, all businesses must prepare for the transition as early as 2011. Although these dates may seem far in the future, it is never too early to plan for, or in the case of an individual, it is never too early to start learning. All the big 4 accounting firms, other businesses and even some large, many are taking steps to educate their employees and clients on IFRS, and individuals can benefit greatly from this information.

Often regarded as # 1 among the "Big 4", PriceWaterhouseCoopers is definitely a leader when it comes to education IFRS. Their home page United States have a leading position with a link that directs users to the portion of their website which is completely understood information on IFRS. What I found most interesting on the website was interactive demonstration IFRS financial statements. When you go to the demonstration that you are choosing this type of statement you want to watch. They provide balance sheets, income statements and statements of cash flows to name a few. Once you click on one of them mentions the statement you selected, highlighting the different sections of the report raise an explanation of how the statement differs from GAAP to IFRS. It is a great way for people to see how different statements, rather than just reading about it. PwC also offers a wealth of information on IFRS in the Publications section of its website, which is available for anyone to download.

KPMG is a Big 4 firm who else is good up there in their efforts to facilitate the transition from GAAP to IFRS. I found their report entitled "The Effects of IFRS on financial systems" to be incredibly informative. This is an extremely important and it should be noted that the costs should be half of the financial burden of conversion to IFRS. KPMG provides information very freely, however, the publications they offer seem to be more geared to professionals rather than everyday people seeking information on IFRS, and there are fees required for some of their publications .

As I said earlier, education IFRS is not strictly limited to the "Big 4". RSM McGladrey is a company that works diligently to make IFRS a reality while limiting the problems. They look IFRS simply as a compromise to globalization and market expansion. One interesting thing that has McGladrey is a video of Bob Dohr, Managing Partner and Practice Leader of the international division of insurance services that puts in 4 steps, he is convinced that an organization must take to prepare for IFRS. I highly recommend this vision video .

If you are in the field of accounting, you've probably heard something about IFRS and may have even trained for that. Nevertheless, there is an incredible amount of information on IFRS there, and all you have to do is look. The sources that I have discussed are just the beginning for what is really there. You should not let someone else worry about IFRS because it will affect everyone.

Sources:

10 Minutes on the transition to IFRS. PriceWaterhouseCoopers, September 2008 <http://ww.