The Jeddah Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India conducted a two-day seminar on International Financial Reporting Standards at Jeddah Trident Hotel recently. Two renowned speakers Rajkumar Adukia (ex-president Western India Regional Council, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) and Yagnesh Desai gave a presentation to an audience of over 50 delegates. They spoke on various aspects of IFRS which will become mandatory from 2011 in Canada, Korea, India and Japan and in other countries of the world including US and Britain by 2014. They informed the delegates that there are 65 standards which include 8 International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued after 2001, 29 International Accounting Standards (IAS) issued before 2001, 17 Interpretations originated from International Financial Reporting Implementation Committee (IFRIC) issued after 2001 and 11 standards of Standards Implementation Committee (SIC) issued before 2001. IFRSs are “principles based” standards as they establish broad rules as well as dictate specific treatments in some cases. The overriding requirement of IFRS is for financial statements to give a fair presentation or true and fair view. Although IFRS are country-specific, more than 113 countries currently allow IFRS reporting of which 85 require IFRS reporting for all domestic and listed companies. Another prominent local speaker Mr. Ebrahim Oboud Baeshen partner of Oboud Baeshen & Company and member of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry gave the interpretation of IFRS and its comparison with Saudi Organization of Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA). The Accounting Standards as laid down by SOCPA and which are applicable to companies in Saudi Arabia are very much close to compliance with IFRS and in years to come will become fully compliant. __
