Leading accountants tell governments quicken pace of global standards adoption

The new standards will, in time, offer tangible business benefits and increased cost efficiencies

IFRS offers the opportunity to utilise the asset register to maximise business benefits. It?s true that the new IFRS reporting complexity combined with an extraordinary increase in asset numbers does present a series of challenges to financial departments. But the new standards will, in time, offer tangible business benefits and increased cost efficiencies which will make any disruption caused during this transitionary period, as organisations completely readdress their asset register requirements, seem like a very necessary catalyst leading ultimately to a far more productive time.

A centralised, automated asset register is key if organisations are to reap the maximum benefits. This vital tool will not only streamline year end audits and reduce the reliance on specific, skilled personnel but will also provide the detailed insight into corporate assets required to enhance capital expenditure decision making.

Once established, this new set of standards will offer an astonishing level of visibility throughout the fixed asset register, maximising business value, streamlining processes and allowing organisations to achieve their full business potential through the prudent management of resources.

Yours faithfully,

Karen Conneely
Group Commercial Manager
Real Asset Management
www.realassetmgt.co.uk

Posted by: Karen Conneely , 27 Jul 2009 | 00:00

The Difference Between IFRS and a Bucket of Manure Is. . .the Bucket

These "leading accountants" are (a) hacks from the large public accounting firms who don't give a d*** about the downward effect on the standard of living in American that IFRS would have - they care only about feathering their own nests, and (b) corporate toadies trying to suck up to their auditors.

If you think the U.N. is a model of integrity and effectiveness, then you'll love having the likes of Russia and China lecture the rest of us about transparency and disclosure. U.S. GAAP is not perfect, but U.S. markets have a lower cost of capital than any of their international counterparts. And there's a reason for that: U.S. GAAP ain't IFRS.

Those who think IFRS is a good idea aren't reading the overwhelmingly negative comment letters to the SEC's proposed "roadmap to IFRS." And whoever the ninny was who wrote the "Leading Accountants" article must be living in a cave. Or in the hip pocket of the Big Four (which I call, for obvious reasons, the Four W***es.).

Posted by: Warren D. Miller , 31 Jul 2009 | 00:00

3+1=5 Win the argument with analogies

3+1=5 Be flexible and allow your mind to bend and it will add up perfectly for those who allow "arguments by analogy" to our world of debits equaling credits. Mark-to-market breeds good buyers, but fails to create measurable or real profits unless you accept what if analogies. Thank you Sir Tweedie for announcing when you intend to withdrawal your IFRS troops, 2011. I only wish you would begin the retreat sooner rather than later.

The debate be is over in the USA just because China? Majority rules and 2+2 can equal 5 now that most people agree? The argument in favor of IFRS is focused on its inevitability and not economics. It resonates very similar to Hillary Clinton?s strategy to be President because it was her supposed destiny.

The SEC finally exposed the accounting fraud at GE. Hopefully, the GE announcement is marks the beginning of a trend. GE reportedly spent $200M in legal fees before coming to its knees on the matter. A perfect example of non-value added "economic substance decision making" at the top of a global enterprise. Many believe that Capitalism did what no socialist organization could pull off around the world - Create a Socialist society by wearing masks of global corporations, concentrating power and decision making to the very few.

There is no value added argument to conversion to IFRS. It is clear it will deplete resources away from other value added investments in American corporations and fatten the wallets of global accounting firms. Conversion may even create another Y2K (scam-boom) for the IT industry. Y2K IT fallacy was directly linked to the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.

The arguments in favor of IFRS always go to some intangible utopia on the horizon. "Too many pages of rules" is another of the advocates? primary points. Well, we have libraries full of laws and law books, perhaps those are too cumbersome to be relevant and should also be discarded in favor of this globalist movement's brilliant ability to achieve perfect consensus within their ranks.

I don't assume IFRS will develop along the lines of GAAP. I fear IFRS will evolve according to the golden rule: Whoever pays the bribes will make the rules while willing accountants with their hands out "determine economic substance".

Where is the upside for average Americans? What are the checks and balances when someone disagrees with the deciders of "economic substance"? How will a whistle blower be protected when a non-mathematical "economic substance decision maker" wants him silenced?

The US stock market is recovering from last year's deliberate attack on the American financial system despite the ongoing threat of international isolation. Pull out your troops, Sir Tweedie. What are you waiting for? The hockey stick chart party ended July 11, 2008. Glass-Steagull like segregation of duties controls will be enacted in 2011 and we will once again be able to assert that 2+2=4 without having an argument by analogy.

Posted by: Average Accounant in USA , 06 Aug 2009 | 00:00