FDs urged to prepare for IAS switch over
Finance directors should start focusing on accounting developments at a global level as the 2005 deadline for the switch over nears, warns mid-tier firm Mazars Neville Russell.
The firm today urged FDs to keep abreast of international developments or face a competitive disadvantage.
The European Commission last year endorsed global accounting rules set by the International Accounting Standards Board to be used by all European-listed companies by no later than 2005.
In a bid to prepare its clients for the switch to international accounting rules Mazars has set up an IAS taskforce to respond to emerging issues for companies listed on stock exchanges in European member states.
Mazars has also echoed calls from Grant Thornton and the Accounting Standards Board for the IASB not to shift over to a rulebook approach.
Derek Haynes, audit partner at Mazars, said: ‘It is fundamental that International Accounting Standards are based on principles rather than detailed rules, as in the US, in order to avoid opaque reporting as graphically illustrated by the collapse of Enron.’
