Small companies brand IFRS pointless

Baker Tilly’s
annual Taking Aim survey found 90% of AIM companies interviewed said IFRS has
had no discernible positive effect. The lack of any clear positives derived from
the experience may irritate many AIM finance directors, who have spent time and
money complying with the new rules.

Breakdowns show that only 10% thought IFRS had a positive impact and 12%
thought the standards had had a negative influence on the index.

‘In spite of the extra effort required to implement IFRS, very few companies
think that it has had any impact on perceptions of their company,’ the report
stated.

AIM was spared the IFRS burden for one year after the main market had to
shoulder it. The junior exchange was told especially to watch out for the
stumbling blocks relating to share-based payments, dividend treatment, financial
instruments and segmental reporting that tripped up larger companies.

In its twelfth annual Aim survey, Chilton Taylor, the firm’s capital markets
chief said: ‘Over the past two years’ Taking Aim surveys, we have seen AIM
companies getting better prepared for the advent of IFRS.’

But now it was a reality, one in three AIM companies and almost 40% of
UK-based companies approached, said that IFRS compliance has been ‘very’ or
‘fairly’ difficult. Advisers from across the profession hammered home the fact
that the junior exchange had to work hard to avoid these problems, but major
sticking points still arose.

In the first year after the IFRS demands came into force, Baker Tilly’s
survey also found that almost six out of ten AIM companies would now consider
the continuing obligations of being an AIM-quoted plc to be ‘very’ or ‘fairly’
onerous.

This is the highest figure since 2005 and reverses what has been a steady
downward trend over the last few years as companies have accepted the relatively
low regulation that they enjoy on AIM, according to the report.