European plcs way behind on IFRS
Listed companies in Europe are still a long way from being prepared for the introduction of international financial reporting standards in 2005, according to a new survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Link: IAS special report
The study of 300 European companies, undertaken by the Big Four firm in the first three months of the year, found that one in 10 had not even begun their IFRS project set-up and management process, with less than a third fully set up and running.
Worryingly, only 10% of companies believed they had sufficient resources allocated for the conversion to IFRS. More than two thirds of those surveyed felt that more resources were needed for successful conversion.
‘Some investors and analysts have indicated that share-price volatility may occur, in some cases, if companies are unable to demonstrate this year that they have IFRS under full control,’ said Ian Dilks, IFRS conversion services partner at PwC.
‘Companies that have made only limited progress will need to move fast ð for them, the next six months are crucial.’ Dilks added.
More encouraging, results from the survey showed that three-quarters of companies have assessed the high-level impact of IFRS on their business.