18 months for SMEs to grasp new accounting standards
Smaller companies will be given 18 months to get to grips with new accounting standards
SMALL COMPANIES will receive at least 18 months’ lead-in time to take on new international accounting standards.
Accounting Standards Board’s David Loweth told an ICAS event in Edinburgh that although the planned implementation date of new SME accounting standards was 1 July 2013, companies will be given at least 18 months to put them into practice.
Consultation was released last week for Financial Reporting Standard for SMEs (FRSME), previously known as IFRS for SMEs.
Addressing the audience, IASB chairman Sir David Tweedie (pictured) said the vintage years of UK GAP were over, making way for the new generation of IFRS.
Robert Hannah, regional managing partner for Grant Thornton in Scotland, said that rationalising standards to one global system was welcome and positive. “There is no doubt this has to be the way forward.”
There have been concerns raised about the standard’s implementation. In a 21 September letter, BIS corporate law and governance director Richard Carter wrote to ASB chairman Ian Mackintosh warning new accounting rules “could well involve a significant increase in net cost to UK businesses”.