Guidelines on acquisitions developed

News Article - 10 January 2008
Category:

A revised set of guidelines has been developed to compare different standards of accounting by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board.

One high quality set of principles can now be applied to both US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), ensuring business reports remain transparent and consistent.

Sir David Tweedie, chairman of the IASB, explained that financial statements are extremely difficult to compare when acquisitions are accounted for under different guidelines.

"Investors and their advisers have a difficult enough job assessing how the activities of the acquirer and its acquired business will combine," he said.

The revised requirements will come into place from July 1st 2009 but entities can apply them earlier, the IASB reports.

Companies must now disclose fees paid to advisers of large mergers and acquisitions under further regulations from the IASB.

Article keywords: Many companies and organisations are gearing up for the 15th XBRL International Conference to be held next month.<br/><br/>The event, to be held between June 4th and 6th in Munich, will bring together financial services companies, software specialists and regulators from across the globe to discuss the implementation of the computer language and provide practical demonstrations.<br/><br/>Among the organisations in attendance will be the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which recently announced that it had begun to make the use of XBRL by public companies an official rule.<br/><br/>In addition, the Spanish Securities Regulator, the German Commercial Regulator, the National Taxonomy Project Netherlands and the International <a href="http://www.access-accounts.com/" target="_self">Accounting</a> Standards Board will be joined by XBRL experts for the event.<br/><br/>Speakers are set to include Management Services at Deutsche Bank's group technology and operations chief operating officer DR Matthias Buger, Peter Calvert, director of XBRL-UK and Norbert Flickinger, cooperation partner of XBRL Germany.<br/>

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