The Future of Global Financial Reporting

The IFRS Foundation Stakeholder Event

The IFRS Foundation Stakeholder Event on The Future of Global Financial Reporting at Luna Park in Sydney on Wednesday evening was a great event.

We often focus on the difficulties in getting a common approach on the big issues such as leases and revenues, so it was good to be reminded of just how far we have come in terms of international convergence of standards and how much has been achieved.  15 years ago, there were multiple local GAAPs and US GAAP reconciliations were a big issue.  Now we are down to two systems accepted in major capital markets, US GAAP and IFRS, with the FASB and IASB working together on a number of issues and GAAP reconciliations are a thing of the past.  If standard setting is in the hands of the articulate, committed professionals we saw on Wednesday, the future of global standard setting appears bright.  Renewed focus on making reports more meaningful by applying materiality and reducing unnecessary disclosures is the way forward.