Author Description

The practical guide to IAS compliance Accountants rely on this handy yet comprehensive quick-reference guide to help them prepare and understand financial statements presented in accordance with the rapidly evolving, ever more widely utilized international accounting standards (IAS). Formal acceptance of IAS for use in cross-border securities registrations is a real possibility within the next twelve months, as the IAS standard-setting body completes its "core set of standards" project in late 1998 and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) begins to deliberate its endorsement of these standards. Every accountant or corporate financial official involved in—or contemplating—registration in foreign markets now needs the guidance offered in this book. Written by a team of practicing CPAs with in-depth international experience, this guide includes meaningful real-world examples and interpretive insights into the requirements of IAS. This up-to-date 1999 edition covers important, complex requirements newly addressed by the IAS, including: IAS 34, Interim Financial Reporting—the first international standard to address the important issues of measuring financial results on interim bases IAS 35, Discontinuing Operations—which supersedes less definitive earlier guidance and offers explicit rules for disclosures IAS 36, Impairment of Assets—previously not addressed in any depth under IAS, the new standard requires that close attention be given to indicators of impairment for not only plant assets, but all tangible and intangible long-lived assets and investments IAS 37, Provisions, Contingent Liabilities, and Contingent Assets—which changes the language of contingent obligations and sets new recognition and disclosure standards IAS 38, Intangible Assets—which greatly expands the guidance concerning the always challenging subject of intangible assets, and unifies the requirements governing acc