Preparing for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS): An Opportunity for Finance Transformation

Accenture commissioned a survey to gain an understanding of how major US companies across all industries are coping with the new requirements. Conducted in December 2008, the survey collected data on how US companies view IFRS adoption, as well as how they are preparing for it.

At a high level, our research uncovered four main findings:

• IFRS’s impact will be much larger and broader than anticipated.
   
• IFRS provides companies with a significant opportunity to achieve broader transformational change and drive business benefits beyond compliance.
   
• CFOs perceive the impacts and opportunities of IFRS differently from other constituents in finance and outside of finance.
   
• IFRS’s impact on enterprise performance management capabilities will be significant.
   

In Accenture’s view, IFRS should be about more than just accounting standard compliance. Instead, companies should approach IFRS conversion as an opportunity to strengthen their distinctive capabilities, which Accenture’s High Performance Business research reveals is a building block of high performance. Indeed, companies that adopt IFRS to make improvements in key areas such as finance and supporting IT applications—in essence, investing in vital areas of the business during the current economic downturn—will be better positioned for competitive advantage and high performance than those that approach IFRS conversion simply as a compliance initiative.

Press Release: U.S. companies preparing to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) see opportunity to transform their finance functions, Accenture study finds.

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