Are Auditors of Public Companies Prepared for the Transition to IFRS?

John E. McEnroe, DBA, and Mark Sullivan, PhD

As of this writing, non-U.S. companies using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are permitted to list their securities on U.S. stock exchanges without reconciling those statements to U.S. GAAP. In February 2010, the SEC stated that U.S. issuers would not be required to employ IFRS until 2015 at the earliest. (The previous target date had been 2014.) The SEC further stated that it would vote in 2011 whether to go forward with a mandate to employ IFRS solely or to allow firms to use either IFRS or U.S. GAAP. Although earlier adoption of IFRS had originally been encouraged, the SEC reversed its position at its February 2010 meeting. Despite the SEC's deferral of the implementation date, the 2011 Uniform CPA Examination will require knowledge of IFRS, and one of the capabilities expected from candidates is as follows: