ICAS rejects phased introduction of IFRS
Rather than go for a phased-in introduction of international financial reporting standards in the UK, the Scottish Institute has called for a 'big bang approach' in two to three year's time.
IFRS become mandatory for listed EU companies in 2005, but the Accounting Standards Board plans to phase them in to replace existing UK accounting standards.
In a statement the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland said it rejected this idea, favouring ‘a big bang transition to IFRS possibly in two to three years time to give companies time to prepare for their introduction’.
This was in response to the ASB’s invitation to comment on its planned strategy for introducing IFRS – UK Accounting Standards: A Strategy for Convergence with IFRS – which proposes a phased implementation of IFRS.
Hugh Shields, convenor of the ICAS Accounting Standards Committee said: ‘We do not agree with the ASB’s strategy if it will create differences between IFRSs and the IFRS-based standards to be used in the UK. We believe that the faster the UK moves to using a single set of IFRS, the better for all concerned.
‘We believe that rather than few differences, there should be no differences at all other than those that are required for cross-referencing purposes. We also believe that this issue could be avoided completely if the UK was not following a phased approach to the transition.’