Publisher's Synopsis
Your one indispensable guide to IFRS compliance
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), originally known as International Accounting Standards (IAS), have existed since the mid–1970s but have received significant attention from standard–setters, preparers, and users of financial statements in recent years. The IASB′s restructuring in 2001 introduced due process procedures that conveyed added credibility upon the standards it promulgated, while other events, such as the epidemic of financial reporting frauds in the late 1990s and early 2000s, helped foster the perception that the diversity of national financial reporting standards needed to be addressed and resolved to ease the burden of investors and facilitate the international flow of capital. Seminal events included the qualified acceptance of IFRS by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO); the mandate for all European Union chartered publicly held companies to report consolidated financial statements under IFRS beginning in 2005; and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decision to excuse foreign private issuers using IFRS from the requirement to reconcile financial statements to US GAAP basis, and possible granting of permission to domestic filers to drop US GAAP in favor of IFRS. As other major nations either formally adopt IFRS (e.g., China) or heavily incorporate them into nominally national GAAP (e.g., Australia), and as several major private sector standard–setters (in the US and UK, most notably) have committed to "converge" to IFRS, the importance of IFRS to the future of financial reporting is assured.
Wiley IFRS 2008 is the comprehensive source for guidance in applying IFRS to complex, real–world situations, and is equally valuable for preparers, auditors, and users of financial reports. To facilitate the reader′s understanding, examples created to explain particular IFRS requirements and selections from actual published financial statements are copiously provided throughout the book, illustrating all key concepts. Also included in this edition are a revised, comprehensive disclosure checklist; an updated, detailed comparison between US GAAP and IFRS, keyed to chapter topics; and discussions of major ongoing IASB projects that may have significant impact on readers′ responsibilities over the coming year, including IASB′s controversial attempt to define IFRS for smaller companies.
The revised 2008 edition addresses important and complex requirements such as those pertaining to the accounting for:
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Financial instruments
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Loss contingencies
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Business combinations
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Employee benefits
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Foreign currency based transactions
The 2008 edition continues detailed coverage of all previously issued IAS and IFRS standards and SIC and IFRIC interpretations, including the complex but important financial instruments guidance of IAS 32, IAS 39, and IFRS 7. New examples have been added to every chapter. Other complex areas of financial reporting receiving expansive coverage include:
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Leases
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Revenue recognition
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Employee benefits
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Revised requirements for form and content of financial statements
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Impairment of assets
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Agriculture
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Insurance
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Extraction of minerals
