Finance execs still give IFRS the cold shoulder
PricewaterhouseCoopers survey reveals only a fifth of FTSE 350 finance executives believe IFRS has had positive effects
Only a fifth of FTSE 350 finance executives believe IFRS has positively
benefited the world’s capital markets.
While about 42% of companies are now more comfortable in dealing with the new
standards, 36% don’t even think it has been beneficial.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, which set out to determine how comfortable
the financial community is following the global switch to IFRS a year ago, found
that companies remain fairly negative about the benefits of the standards and
their impact on the capital markets.
A total of 62% of executives dispute whether IFRS has resulted in better
information in the marketplace. Another two thirds believe that IFRS has not had
a positive impact on the quality of UK reporting. Worryingly, 58% of those
surveyed did not believe investors understood the IFRS numbers.
PwC’s IFRS expert, Ian Dilks said: ‘Companies have come through the
conversion process successfully. They are now feeling more comfortable with the
new standards. However, there are still concerns about the overall benefit of
IFRS.’
Finance executives once again made the call for a simplification of the rules
and less complex standards, along with a reduced volume of disclosure to help
investor understanding of financial statements.
There were also renewed calls for greater alignment of US GAAP and IFRS,
saying Sarbanes-Oxley continued to present challenges for company reporting.