INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS: A WAY FOR GLOBAL CONSISTENCY

Abstract

The reverberations of Wall Street had to be felt across the global banking system. Last September, the world economy seemed to be hurtling down in a way that had initially raised the spectre of the Great Depression in America of the late 1920s. This is based largely on the performance of stock markets which are supposed to reflect future trends in the real economy. However, such knowledge embedded in the markets can be imperfect, as we have learnt by now. In some ways, the global financial crisis and its fallout are forcing economic agents to acquire new knowledge in regard to what might happen in the future. It was difficult to explain rationally why the stock markets were furiously running up even as company balance sheets were still bleeding. A few years ago, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) were a distant possibility. Today, the reality is far different. We are in a dramatic shift that is fast making IFRS the most widely accepted accounting model in the world. As the business environment becomes increasingly global and companies routinely list on stock exchanges in many countries, the need for consistent worldwide reporting standards intensifies. IFRS clearly addresses this issue; its goal is to create comparable, reliable, and transparent financial statements that will facilitate greater cross-border capital raising, trade and better corporate governance practices. Thus acceptance of IFRS is gaining momentum across the globe. IFRS transition program for any organization will have multi – dimensional effect because of differences which exist between IFRS and Local GAAPs. The objectives of the paper is to highlight the nature of such differences with examples along with analysing the provisions of IFRS, comparative analysis of IFRS with Indian GAAP system, benefits, and major issues in first time adoption of IFRS in Indian companies with the help of case study of Indian corporate.