How will management address the need for 2010 financial information prepared under both Canadian GAAP and IFRS?
For companies with a December 31 year end, the transition date for applying IFRS will be January 1, 2010, as this is the opening balance date for the first set of IFRS financial statements. Companies will need to restate their opening balance sheet and be in a position to report under both IFRS and Canadian GAAP for the calendar year 2010. How companies address this challenge will be one of the more significant issues they will face during the transition. The main options available to converters involve either dual GAAP accounting throughout the transition period or some form of restatement from Canadian GAAP to IFRS at each reporting date. Boards should pay special attention to the process management follows to arrive at a recommendation and be comfortable with the approach adopted. The decision will be based on a wide range of factors, including: • the estimated benefits in terms of time/cost, • the perceived risk of errors arising during the restatement process, • the ability of the
