Canadian companies lagging in move to IFRS

Many companies are closer to the starting gate rather than the finish line when it comes to preparing for the country’s transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), a survey by the Chartered Accountants of Canada (CA) has found.
Just over half of the 550 senior executives in Canadian companies surveyed indicated their company would need to adhere to IFRS, a CA release says.
Among those executives, only 8% have either started (4%) or completed (4%) the conversion process. Almost three-in-four have either not started to assess the impact (42%) or are in the process of assessing the impact (30%).
“The results are not surprising,” said Ron Salole, vice president of standards with the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. The changeover date to IFRS of Jan. 1, 2011 was just confirmed in mid-February, he continued.
Still, now is the time to get ready, he noted. Earlier this month, CA released an Exposure Draft of the coming standards, outlining what will be expected when IFRS is adopted for the interim and annual financial statements for fiscal years.
“This is a chance to review the Exposure Draft from a fatal-flaw perspective and determine whether the move to IFRS will create any unique issues upon application within Canada,” Salole said.