Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Reading accounts getting easier

Doing accounts for UK companies with a US listing must have been a nightmare over the last few years. In addition to reporting under the new IFRS reporting standards and on US GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles), some also had to do UK GAAP if the CFOs were the pedantic type. So 3 three accounts for one company.

Sense seems to have prevailed and the SEC will now allow UK companies and others to file their US accounts under IFRS. This is primarily driven by the fact that London is now more attractive for IPO listings than ever.
Its also good because, this will really help speed the acceptance of IFRS worldwide which should in turn mean that we as investors can now be able to compare companies across countries seamlessly.

I believe some Kenyan companies are already reporting to IFRS.  Jimnah was recently complaining about the lack of foreign buyers at the NSE.

Having all listed firms do IFRS is one way of attracting these buyers. Over to you Jimnah/CMA/KRA...

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