IFRS advice

Audit and advisory

Over 100 countries across the world now use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), a number that is set to rise to around 150 countries over the next five years. Committing to the IFRS standards provides companies with a ‘passport’ to gain access to almost every capital market in the world.

So, what does it mean for you?

As the financial world evolves and transactions become more complex and global, your accounting policies need to keep pace with change. If you are an ambitious, internationally-active growing organisation with plans to expand into overseas markets, you need precise, tailored advice on IFRS.

Financial statements are not just a statutory obligation; they are a window to investors, lenders and suppliers, present and future and high-quality reporting can add significantly to the credibility of your market offering.

Opportunity or risk? Is IFRS for me?

From the outset, the advantages of IFRS seem to make a lot of sense and investors have recently told the Financial Reporting Council that they believe a company with high quality financial statements is a more attractive investment. However, there are drawbacks and we understand that the opportunity to meet the information demands of investors must be weighed up against the risk of providing competitors with too much sensitive information.

We appreciate it can be a tough to keep up with the detail of the standards and there is a risk that the options available under IFRS and FRS 101 are not used to your advantage.

In addition, areas of management judgement can be challenging to portray to the reader, and it can be hard to translate your ideas into language that appropriately explains performance to stakeholders.

We can help explore your IFRS options taking into account your long-term ambitions as well as ensuring the key areas that investors specifically look for are covered.

We see ourselves as an extension of your finance team. We provide support and advice on the preparation of your audit file, working alongside you when presenting it to your auditors and providing you with robust, technically sound responses to their queries.

How can RSM help you?

We start by working with you to gain a deep understanding of the transactions that make up your financial statements
Our service will be tailored to meet your individual needs, but typically we will draft your statutory financial statements, including performing a thorough review of the transactions and balances to ensure they are accounted for in accordance with IFRS
We will keep in touch with you during the year to ensure you have the necessary year end information.
We will ascertain the most appropriate accounting treatment for unusual or complex transactions.

By preparing information for your auditor around key judgements and disclosures as well as any unusual transactions undertaken, your finance team are then freed up to concentrate on reporting current performance to the board and getting your results to your investors quicker.