The International Accounting Standards Board has issued exposure drafts for the new standards, but the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) said this week that the rules will still be too complex for most small companies.

‘In some countries, the exposure draft is viewed as too complex and therefore only likely to be suitable for a relatively narrow band of larger, non-publicly accountable entities and not to genuinely small and medium-sized entities,’ the body said in its response to the consultation, which closes on Friday.

‘Other countries, especially the many that currently rely on IFRS as the basis of reporting by all companies of whatever size, are likely to make use of the standard, but it will represent a lost opportunity to reduce the burdens of reporting for the bulk of SMEs unless it is further simplified,’ it added.

ACCA said that the IASB, in drafting rules for companies with 50 employees or more, had not grasped that most SMEs are not even that size.

ACCA suggested that it should be renamed, otherwise many would be confused into thinking it applied to all companies below the large company level. ACCA said the current standard could have undesirable effects. ‘A standard in its existing form may trigger development of other forms of reporting,’ it said.