Business and accountancy collide on IFRS

News Article - 07 August 2006
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Businesses are balking at the imposition of international standards by accountancy groups, according to a report in the Independent.

Groups including the CBI and the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) have claimed that enforcing new standards such as IFRS will prove costly to firms and could damage their competitiveness.

However, two accountancy groups have continued to push for standards adoption, with both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) pushing for a rapid move to IFRS.

ACCA has stated that all publicly accountable bodies, including large firms, should use IFRS, while ICAS has called for IFRS to be brought in "as quickly as possible".

"Three sets of standards is not sustainable. The long-term agenda is clear, so we should start moving [towards one set] sooner rather than late," said David Wood, ICAS director of technical policy.

The BCC said that a IFRS switch would not be welcomed by its members, a view echoed the CBI's company affairs director Clive Endrupt.

"It is still all so new that even thinking about extending IFRS to other companies is too soon," he said.

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