International Financial Reporting Standards

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International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) along with International Accounting Standards (IAS) are a set of accounting standards. Currently they are issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

IASs were issued between 1973 and 2001 by Board of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). In April 2001 the IASB adopted all IASs and continued the development, calling new standards IFRSs [1].

Although IAS's are no longer produced, they are still in effect unless replaced by an IFRS, whether in its entirety or part of.

International Financial Reporting Standards in a broad sense comprise:

Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements - stating basic principles and grounds of IFRS

IAS - standards issued before 2001

IFRS - standards issued after 2001

SIC - interpretations of accounting standards, giving specific guidance on unclear issues

IFRIC - newer interpretations, issued after 2001

1 Adaptation and convergence
2 Details
3 External links

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Adaptation and convergence

IFRS are used in many countries in the world, including Singapore, Hong Kong and Russia, most European countries under the jurisdiction of the EU, and recently Australia. In Africa, South Africa has adopted the IFRS standards. For a current overview see IAS PLUS's list of all countries that have adopted IFRS.

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Australia

The Australian Accounting standards, previous to 1 January 2005, were based around accounting standards developed by the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB). As a result of pressure towards international harmonisation, the AASB had been working towards a convergence between the Australian Standards and the IFRS. From 1 January 2005, the Australian equivalent of IFRS have been fully implemented as AASB 101 - 141. It is a requirement that all reporting entities adopt the standards as they have replaced the previous Australian generally accepted accounting principles. Due to the accounting standards operating halfway through the year, the requirements can be summarised as follows:

Year ended 30 June 2004 - Prepare under pre IFRS standards and state in notes the expected effect of the adoption of IFRS
Year ended 30 June 2005 - Prepare under pre IFRS standards and prepare a reconciliation to IFRS standards
Year ended 30 June 2005 - Prepare under Australian Equivalents to IFRS standards

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European Union

All companies listed in the EU are required by the European Commission to prepare their consolidated accounts using IFRS from 2005. Prior to 2005 there were around 350 publicly listed companies that used IFRS - in 2005 the figure will be around 7000.

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Russia

The government of Russia has been implementing a program to harmonize its national accounting standards with IFRS since 1998. As of 2004, only financial institutions are required to prepare IFRS reports.

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Details

IFRSs are considered a "principles-based" set of standards, in that they establish broad rules rather than dictating specific treatments. As of 2002 a number of IFRSs offer the preparer choices of treatments; the IASB's Improvements Project is seeking to reduce these choices.

International accounting standards currently in use are as follows: