Israel plans to replace national GAAP with IFRSs in 2008
09 Jun 2005
An agreement has been reached among the Israel Accounting Standards Board, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Israel, and the Israel Securities Authority to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards in full, in place of national accounting standards, effective in 2008.
In recent years (since 1999) Israeli national accounting standards have been developed on the basis of International Accounting Standards. The change to full IFRS adoption is intended to enhance the worldwide acceptability and understandability of the financial reporting of Israeli companies. In the United States, Israel has more companies registered with the SEC than any foreign country except Canada (over 100 companies). Israel has taken this step in anticipation that non-US companies registered with the SEC will be able to report solely in IFRSs without the US GAAP reconciliation. Many Israeli companies are also listed on European exchanges and, after 2007, those companies will no longer be allowed to use national GAAP for their European regulatory reporting. Additional details will be posted when a formal press release is available.