Was IFRS a waste of time?
As the bulk of AIM companies brace themselves for the rigours of IFRS compliance, many will be wondering whether the standards aren’t something of a white elephant?
The devil has been in the detail for the FTSE 350. Even now, accounting
bodies are working feverishly to hammer out the plethora of sticking points.
Uniformity remains a major problem as companies in each EU member state
report their own problems, which will lead to further harmonisation.
Recently, blue-chip companies have entered into a flexing, rather than a
bending of the rules in presenting their company information.
Dual-listed BHP Billiton slapped $354m (£181m) of goodwill on its books after
using an Aussie GAAP ruling instead of the UK GAAP version.
The ripple effect of IFRS compliance brings up some other questions who are
the AIM companies going to turn to to solve their IFRS quandaries?
Will the Big Four be called upon to take AIM debutantes by the hand to the
detriment of the chasing mid-tier pack?
That would be an awkward result for regulators.
While trying to persuade companies to hire smaller firms for work and getting
anxious about the dominance of the Big Four, the staggered introduction of IFRS
has led to bigger firms having a huge competitive advantage.
David Jetuah is a reporter on Accountancy Age