ICAEW members heard one of China’s finance ministers endorse IFRS this week ­ but his comments came only after they had heard their own leader issue a stark warning about the low level of awareness in the UK about the new rules.

China’s assistant finance minister Wang Jun told yesterday's ICAEW conference that international accounting and audit standards had become an ‘inevitable trend’ and pledged to converge his own country’s standards.

But institute chief executive Eric Anstee spoke of the poor level of knowledge among UK-listed companies about the effects of IFRS on key performance indicators.

ICAEW research released at the conference found that 58% of listed companies were ‘unaware’ of how IFRS would impact their KPIs, while only 36% have issued public statements quantifying the impact of the standards upon their 2003 or 2004 results. ‘Many can’t express a view on its impact,’ Anstee said, adding that it was ‘disturbing’.

Wang said: ‘The convergence of IFRS and audit standards has become an inevitable trend.’ While local legal systems, accounting and audit objectives naturally differ, he added, the Chinese government will actively promote convergence.