By Marine Cole

The push for global accounting standards will create more difficulties than companies may anticipate, experts warned at a conference earlier this month on the transition to international financial reporting standards from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Because IFRS is based more on general principles than U.S. GAAP, the international regime lacks specific guidance on how to comply with the rules. As a result, experts believe auditors will require more public disclosure of the basis for a company's accounting before signing off on results compiled under IFRS than under U.S. GAAP, and that will make many companies uncomfortable.

At a minimum, compliance with IFRS will mean more time spent with auditors trying to determine how to apply a specific accounting principle. It may also mean more involvement on the part of the operations department in accounting matters, to determine the intent behind specific transactions. That, experts say, will require companies to walk a fine line between disclosing enough information for accounting purposes and revealing secrets to competitors.
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